Highlights and images for 26 June 2025

Heading into the last day of the Subsidiary Bodies’ meeting, resolution was still pending on several issues, including research, the mitigation work programme, the dialogue for implementing the Global Stocktake outcomes, and the Global Goal on Adaptation. Many negotiation sessions on these outstanding matters were suspended several times throughout the day to allow for more informal engagement in so-called “huddles.” In some cases, delegates emerged from their huddles with bridging proposals. Other discussions were seemingly going in circles.

During their final hours, the negotiations on research and systematic observation centered on: how to respond to the World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Global Climate 2024 report; and references to estimates of current global warming levels, 1.5°C, carbon dioxide removal, and carbon accounting. Parties were debating trade-offs across several paragraphs of the draft text. A resolution was only found in the afternoon, after many hours of discussions in informal consultations and informal informals.

Agreement on matters related to the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA) was even more elusive. After meeting for a six-hour session during the day, parties could still not agree on guidance to the experts tasked with refining the list of indicators, especially with regard to references to means of implementation. The Chairs of the Subsidiary Bodies consulted with Heads of Delegation into the late evening to find a way forward, eventually settling on a compromise text on the indicators.

The Subsidiary Bodies adopted a range of conclusions and agreed to forward matters for further consideration at their next session in November 2025. References to informal notes and other documents that would serve as a basis for discussion were replete with caveats that these “include divergent views,” “have not been agreed upon,” “do not reflect consensus,” “are not exhaustive,” “have no formal status,” “are open to revision,” and “do not prejudge parties’ views on any of the options contained therein” or “prevent parties from expressing any further views.”

Closing statements were delivered in the afternoon, before the Subsidiary Bodies proceeded with the adoption of their conclusions. Comments related to, among others:

• calls for parties to submit 1.5°C-aligned nationally determined contributions (NDCs) and for the incoming Presidency to provide a space in Belém to reflect on the NDC synthesis report;
• calls for fossil fuel phase out and universal access to renewable energy;
• denouncing attacks on science and lamenting that the mere mention of 1.5°C seems to be a red flag for some;
• urging progress on the indicators for the Global Goal on Adaptation and the development of the new gender action plan, with a view to adopting these in Belém;
• concerns with limited progress on technology and how this impacts developing countries’ mitigation efforts; and
• the need for the roadmap to USD 1.3 trillion in climate finance to deliver concrete milestones, put the most vulnerable at the center, and support a tripling of adaptation finance.

UNFCCC Executive Secretary Simon Stiell emphasized the need to tackle tough issues and create the needed change. He underscored that all eyes will be on COP 30 to deliver a response to the synthesis reports on NDCs and biennial transparency reports, which will show how far we have come and how far we must go.

The meeting was gaveled to a close at 12:18 am on Friday, 27 June 2025.