As news of temperature records both on land and sea kept coming, the parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) resumed their work and picked up negotiations where they left off at the 27th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP) in Egypt in November 2022.

The 58th sessions of the UNFCCC’s Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI) and Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) represented the last big milestone in the climate negotiations before the culmination of the first Global Stocktake under the Paris Agreement at COP 28 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It provided an opportunity to collectively reflect on where the world stands in terms of addressing climate change. To this effect, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) presented insights from the Synthesis Report of its Sixth Assessment cycle, which was published in March 2023.

The subsidiary bodies (SB) meetings featured the kick-off of negotiations on the work programme on just transition pathways agreed to at COP 27 and the continuation of negotiations on a range of other issues. Among other things, the SBSTA and the SBI were expected to make a recommendation as to a suitable host for the Santiago Network on Loss and Damage’s secretariat. Contrary to the COP, negotiations at the SB meeting were to be light on finance issues and center on support for developing country reporting and initiating the second review of the Standing Committee on Finance.

At the request of the European Union, the Sharm el-Sheikh mitigation ambition and implementation work programme was initially added to the meeting’s provisional agendas. This could have provided room to build on the momentum around the idea of adopting a goal on renewable energy deployment that crystalized at the Petersberg Climate Dialogue, an annual forum for high-level climate policy discussions aimed at feeding into the UNFCCC process.

Notably, the SB meeting gave way to a flurry of workshops and dialogue events—on big ticket issues such as loss and damage, mitigation, and adaptation, but also on Indigenous Peoples, gender, and the ocean, and more technical issues, such as reporting tools.

The subsidiary bodies meet twice a year, once in June and once in November/December alongside the COP. The SBSTA is the link between the scientific information provided by expert sources, such as the IPCC, and the policy-oriented needs of the governing bodies. The SBI focuses on assessing and reviewing the implementation of the Convention, the Kyoto Protocol, and the Paris Agreement. The SBSTA and SBI work together on cross-cutting issues that touch on both their areas of expertise, which is the case for many issues.

SBI 58 and SBSTA 58 convened from 5-15 June 2023, at the World Convention Center in Bonn, Germany.

The Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) writers for this meeting were Jennifer Bansard, Ph.D., Christina Fernandez, Timothy Neff, Ph.D., Hillary Rosentreter, and Lynn Wagner, Ph.D. The Photographer was Kiara Worth, Ph.D. The Editor was Pamela Chasek, Ph.D.