Below are remarks delivered by UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell during the opening of the UN June Climate Meetings in Bonn, Germany, on Monday 8 June 2026.
Excellencies, colleagues, friends,
All of you here have made a decision.
Tackling the global climate crisis is the hardest, but most important, thing humanity has ever tried to do together.
It is worth doing, because we have no choice. Every economy and population depends on it.
All of you here have chosen to dedicate yourselves to that task.
It is never easy.
It is sometimes thankless.
But together, you've navigated negotiations, pushed past setbacks, found ways for nations who disagree on nearly everything, to agree.
And now, climate action and the global economy are moving.
We are not where we need to be. But we are somewhere we have never been before.
This is the hard work starting to pay off.
People the world over need this process to keep delivering, and at increasing speed and scale.
That begins here in Bonn.
And it takes us to Antalya, through Addis Ababa, to COP33 and the global stocktake.
Where we need an outcome that reflects the magnitude of the dangers and opportunities we face, with stronger commitments that science demands.
That means doubling-down on delivery.
So that by COP33, we are much closer to meeting the targets you have agreed.
We don't have time to re-open past debates or renegotiate commitments already made.
Because we hear the frustrations of those denied the benefits of climate action - now.
And we're witnessing the imperative to accelerate - now: as deadly heat kills thousands in a single day.
As El Niño impacts - supercharged by the climate crisis - promise further pain and inflationary shocks.
As war in the Middle East causes immense human suffering and sparks a fossil fuel cost crisis that's strangling economies everywhere.
It's crystal clear: continuing our fossil fuel dependency means continuing to import inflation and economic instability, while exporting energy security, sovereignty and policy autonomy, leaving economies and communities exposed to climate disasters, taking a wrecking ball to lives and prosperity everywhere.
We must go further, faster: delivering fully on our Paris obligations and on plans made under the Agreement.
First, by streamlining this process, and shaping it to support real-world delivery.
All institutions must continuously evolve and improve.
We are listening.
And we hear your calls.
Calls for a review of mandates - collectively you can instruct us to ensure we are working more efficiently together.
Calls for the Secretariat to support access to climate finance - making space for providers to better coordinate, and exploring how applications can be simplified across the entire ecosystem.
And calls to reduce the burden on Parties across all climate and environmental reporting. Which is being explored under UN80.
The Secretariat will always be there to advise and support you.
But ultimately, it's your process, and your decisions to make.
Second, negotiations remain central to helping Parties implement and accelerate.
Here in Bonn, we must advance key issues, including:
The Global Goal on Adaptation, and the Belem Adaptation Indicators.
Focusing on how to deliver the first global stocktake outcomes.
Developing the just transition mechanism, to help all countries support their people.
Finance - from the climate finance work programme to the Adaptation Fund. As well as advancing work outside the negotiations to deliver on our finance agreements.
Progressing other work programme reviews with implementation at their core.
And much more.
Third and finally, we must bring the work of this process closer to the real economy.
We hear calls from many to elevate the Global Climate Action Agenda - complementing negotiations, bringing together governments, companies, innovators, investors, cities and regions, and civil society.
Its direction is set. COP30 launched six thematic axes, aligning the Action Agenda with the implementation of the Global Stocktake.
I commend Türkiye - working with Australia - for building on that.
So I urge you to engage with this work over these two weeks.
And to use the Action Agenda to address major challenges your governments face: boosting energy security, fortifying food security, and reducing waste.
Strengthening the resilience of your cities.
And tackling methane - to avoid deadly tipping points.
The hard work continues.
Make these two weeks count.
I thank you.
