Below is a speech delivered by UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell, at the Closing Plenary of the UN June Climate Meetings (SB62) on 27 June 2025, in Bonn, Germany.

Excellencies,

Colleagues,

Friends,

We need to go further, faster, and fairer.

I commend the hard work that has paid off over the last ten days, including on the Just Transition Work Programme, Gender, NAPs, Transparency and the UAE Dialogue [on Implementing the Global Stocktake Outcomes].

Work on some other areas, we have struggled.

I’m not going to sugar coat it – we have a lot more to do before we meet again in Belém.

There is so much more work to do to keep 1.5 alive, as science demands.

We must find a way to get to the hard decisions sooner.

We will need negotiators to sit together between sessions to find common ground.

We need leaders and ministers to roll up their sleeves.

This is your agenda. Your process. Progress here will benefit your people.

You have so much more in common than divides you. We need to spend more time reflecting and building on this.

Outside of these halls, the transition is accelerating. Presenting astonishing opportunities. Smart leaders should form frontrunner groups to tackle tough issues and create the change.

We look forward to receiving new and stronger NDCs by September and will include them in a new NDC Synthesis Report. This report will show how far we’ve come and how far we must still go.

We’ll also share lessons and identify barriers to overcome with our first BTR Synthesis Report, and the report on progress on National Adaptation Plans.

All eyes will then be on COP30, to deliver the response to these reports, and see how nations pick up the pace on implementation.

I thank Parties for agreeing the UNFCCC’s budget. We take this as a vote of confidence in our collective work, and a clear signal that governments continue to see UN-convened climate cooperation as essential, even in difficult times.

This is a modest but vital investment, because this process is humanity's only means of preventing climate-driven global economic meltdown, with terrible human costs. Just as we have no Planet B, there is no process B.

We will work to repay this trust by continuing to deliver on the mandates Parties have given us, while always seeking efficiency and continuous improvement.

On behalf of the Secretariat, I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to the SB Chairs, Adonia and Julia, along with their team of co-facilitators, for their dedicated efforts.

I am also deeply grateful for the tireless, round-the-clock work of so many delegates, and, of course, the unwavering commitment of my colleagues in the Secretariat.

Today, I offer my sincere appreciation to two valued staff members, Olga Pilifosova and Lando Velasco, for their decades of exceptional service to the United Nations. As they prepare for their well-earned retirement, I wish them all the very best.

I again pay tribute to the COP29 Presidency for their support and look forward to continuing the hard work ahead with the incoming COP30 Presidency.

I thank you.