On Wednesday, 5 October, the Conference on Contributions of Forests to a Green Economy convened for a second day in Bonn, Germany. After a brief plenary in the morning outlining the procedures and vision for the day's work, participants resumed their work in four working groups: "Forest valuation and financing"; "Institutions, governance and stakeholders"; "Benefiting people"; and "Technology transfer, capacity building, bio-based products and the role of the private sector." These working groups were charged with developing conclusions and recommendations to include in the chair's report of the Conference. The first three working groups were further divided by their facilitators into subgroups to discuss specific issue clusters in greater detail.

During lunch three side events were held concurrently: one by the Central African Forests Commission (COMIFAC) on the contribution of the Congo Basin forests to a green economy; another by China's State Forestry Administration on the contribution of forests to China's economic development and the transition of the forestry sector toward green growth; and a third by the World Bank and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)/United Nations Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degredation (UN-REDD) on trees, forests, rural landscapes and green economy, and REDD+ as a catalyst of a green economy.

Work resumed after lunch in working groups and subgroups. In mid-afternoon the subgroups reported their results to their respective working groups, which in turn began formulating with their rapporteurs the draft conclusions and recommendations. At 5 PM plenary reconvened to hear progress reports from the four rapporteurs.

In the evening, participants attended an event hosted by the World Future Council, a charitable foundation based in Hamburg, Germany, that seeks to form a voice for the rights of future generations. The event introduced the recipients recently awarded the Future Policy Award for 2011, which celebrated the "World's Best Forest Policies."