Sometimes history is progressed in moments. Through heavy choices, big decisions or pure chance.  And sometimes it is made in rooms like these.  Gradually, carefully, out of the spotlight.  We have seen that process in action over these ten days.  Yes, there remain significant divides, and significant work for the intersessional period ahead.  But we have seen a seriousness in tackling key issues, and a determination to find solutions.  In key areas we've taken real strides forward – showing climate cooperation at work, and this process doing its job.  On just transition, you took important steps towards turning the promise of the just transition mechanism into a reality, and to set up the review of the just transition work programme. While these might feel like modest steps for our process, they are big strides in the right directions for communities and working people everywhere. On Action for Climate Empowerment, we laid crucial groundwork for accelerating a just transition, and deepening participation and engagement across societies. There were also substantive steps taken across other crucial thematic areas. On adaptation and mitigation, Parties voiced the need to deepen and accelerate action, but very disappointingly, we did not deliver on that here in Bonn. And we’ve heard the COP31 Presidency announce targets for electrification, city resilience and efficiency, and waste under the Action Agenda. Minister Kurum, Minister Bowen and I are in lock-step: the negotiations and the Action Agenda are both vital, separate but parallel and complimentary tracks.   COP31 must deliver real strides forward in both.  In some areas, we have seen some side-stepping and stalling.  We've seen geopolitical tensions washing through these halls. As I said when these meetings began, we must all deliver on existing obligations and plans under the Convention and Paris Agreement.   And we simply cannot afford to re-open previous decisions, to renegotiate existing targets, or to backslide.   Let me now go further, and say: All Parties must be comfortable and confident in restating our existing global commitments – without cherry-picking those that suit tactically in the moment. Commitments made in the first global stocktake; commitments that respond to the science and the 1.5 degrees limit; on Loss and Damage; on 300 billion; on 1.3 trillion; on tripling adaptation finance; and more.  These are the baselines.  But in some negotiating rooms, we’ve heard a familiar tendency towards you-first-ism: Groups refusing to deliver commitments or allow the process to move forward unless others go first.  This is a recipe for gridlock when we need all negotiating tracks to be moving in the fast lane. So that we make real progress towards implementation in Antalya and Addis Ababa. And arrive at the second global stocktake at COP33 much closer to delivering on the pledges made at the first.  The leadership of Türkiye and Australia will be vital. So will the ongoing support of Azerbaijan, Brazil and Ethiopia. Pre-COP in Fiji and Tuvalu is a key moment on the road to Antalya.    But we cannot wait until then to step up efforts to find common ground on the tough issues.  So I urge you to bring in your Ministers as soon as possible, in the weeks and months ahead. Particularly on the thorniest issues.  The secretariat has been listening carefully and taking steps to find efficiencies, so we can keep delivering on all our growing mandates. I also asked a group of experts to consider ways that our process could be optimised or evolve – recognising all that it has achieved, and its Party-owned nature and foundations.  This week, they shared some of their independent ideas.  A summary will be made available in the weeks ahead. The secretariat is very much in listening mode, and very clear on our mandates.  We particularly want to hear from you – the Parties – and other stakeholders, and we'll provide information soon on a process and timelines to do that.  My sincere thanks to the SB Chair Julia Gardiner, SBSTA Vice-Chair Carol Franco, along with their co-facilitators. I am also deeply grateful for the tireless work of so many delegates and observers, and the unwavering commitment and professionalism of my colleagues across the Secretariat. We must press forward.  I know many folks will take a breath after these ten longs days and watch some World Cup football.   But let’s please not get the idea of winners and losers in our heads. To protect 8 billion people from this climate crisis, it’s cooperation not fierce competition that we need.

The High-level Informal Consultative Roundtable, at the invitation of the UNFCCC Executive Secretary, consults and advises on perspectives on progress to date, and ideas on enabling further acceleration as the world enters this new era of enhanced implementation.

Below is a written statement from UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell on Monday 2 March 2026, also posted on his LinkedIn account here. Along with its brutal human costs, this newest upheaval shows yet again that fossil fuel dependence leaves economies, businesses, markets and people at the mercy of each new conflict or trade policy lurch. But there is a clear solution to this fossil fuel cost chaos -  renewables are now cheaper, safer and faster-to-market, making them the obvious pathway to energy security and sovereignty. It’s a key reason renewables overtook coal last year as the world’s top electricity source. But the global transition is still too slow, and many developing nations need much more support to get on board. I fully echo the Secretary-General’s call that everything must be done to avoid further escalation. Protecting civilian lives is essential.

Below are remarks from UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell, during a press conference hosted by the COP31 President Designate, Minister Murat Kurum in Istanbul, Türkiye, on Thursday 12 February 2026. It is an absolute pleasure to be here in Istanbul. And I thank the Government of Türkiye for hosting us so warmly. It has been an opportunity to hear more about Türkiye’s forward-looking work towards zero-waste, and its renewables boom.   Now is the time for us all to be looking ahead to set a clear and ambitious direction, on the road to COP31 and beyond. For the valuable discussions so far, I thank Türkiye the incoming COP31 Presidency, as well as Australia, in its role of President of Negotiations, and as one of the Vice Presidents during COP31. I also thank the current COP30 Presidency of Brazil and the COP29 Presidency of Azerbaijan, whose vital work we will all build on, this year and ongoing. One thing is clear: COP31 in Antalya will take place in extraordinary times. We find ourselves in a new world disorder. This is a period of instability and insecurity. Of strong arms and trade wars. The very concept of international cooperation is under attack. These challenges are real and serious. But climate action can deliver stability in an unstable world. In the face of the current chaos, we can, and must, drive forward a new era of international climate cooperation. And UN Climate Change has a plan for how to take us forward in this new era… For how climate action becomes the not-so-secret weapon we need to deliver security and prosperity. To see where we need to go, we must look at where we are, and where we’ve come from. Climate action can be divided into three eras. In the first, we uncovered the problem. But instead of responding, we argued over its scale. In the second, we started to get serious about solutions. And during this era, together we built the Paris Agreement. That didn’t solve the climate crisis – but it changed our course. And it showed that nations can deliver change on a major scale when they stand together. In the decade since Paris, clean energy investment is up tenfold – from two hundred billion dollars to over two trillion dollars a year. And, in 2025, amidst all the economic uncertainty and gale-force political headwinds, the global transition kept surging forward: Clean energy investment kept growing strongly, and was more than double that of fossil fuels. Renewables overtook coal as the world's top electricity source. The majority of countries produced new national climate plans that will help drive their economic growth up and – for the first time – global emissions down. And, at COP30, nations said with one voice: the global transition is now irreversible, the Paris Agreement is working, and together we will make it go further and faster. Even if it’s clearly still not as fast or fair enough, it's hard to think of a decade when international climate cooperation has delivered more real-world progress. Not by coincidence: it is also under unprecedented threat. From those determined to use their power to defy economic and scientific logic, and increase dependence on polluting coal, oil and gas – even though that means worsening climate disasters and spiralling costs for households and businesses. These forces are undeniably strong. But they need not prevail. There is a clear alternative to this chaos and regression: And that is countries standing together, building on all we have achieved to date, to make it go further and faster… Working more closely with businesses, investors, and regional and civic leaders – to deliver more real-world results in every country. In short, driving forward a new, third era of climate action. The era of implementation. This is an era to speed-up and scale-up. It must start with a relentless focus on delivering – or even exceeding – the targets agreed in the first global stocktake, in 2023. Doubling energy efficiency and tripling clean energy by 2030. Transitioning away from all fossil fuels, in a just, fair and orderly manner. Strengthening resilience and reducing vulnerability. And ensuring more climate finance reaches people everywhere, especially the most vulnerable. By the second global stocktake, in 2028, we must be on track to meet those commitments. So that countries come to COP33 confident of a robust response that delivers not just survival but strength: Boosting resilience, growing economies, and slashing emissions. Committing to new and stronger targets that the science demands. So how do we get there? First, by rapidly scaling up a pipeline of projects globally that get us to current targets. By match-making between countries, finance and the private sector – to secure partnerships, agreements and projects that translate into real-world results at scale. We saw in Belém what a difference the Action Agenda can make, and why it's as much a part of the work ahead under the Paris Agreement as the negotiations – even as they remain critical. At COP30: a trillion dollars for clean grids, and major investments in forest protection, climate health, and much more. Those skilled in the art of deal-making are already seizing the huge opportunities on offer. This approach is generating massive investment flows, leveraging the market-driven momentum that’s already transforming global energy systems irreversibly. Those stepping back from climate leadership are simply gifting this goldmine of new jobs and wealth to competitor economies. Our task now is to ramp up this transformation, and ensure that every country has a full seat at this table of opportunity - particularly vulnerable and developing economies. Second, hyper-charging the flow of finance is key, so every country can seize the vast benefits of climate action, and build climate resilience to protect their peoples. Ensuring countries have the support they need to deliver in full on their National Adaptation Plans and Nationally Determined Contributions, and to boost them. That means lowering the cost of capital, and securing a massive surge in the quantity and quality of climate finance, especially for developing countries. Multilateral Development Banks will be crucial into providing more finance, bringing in the private sector, producing better data, and continuing to reform. Third, we must keep building momentum at the vanguard of climate action. That means the most ambitious coming together in coalitions of the willing: creating roadmaps to transition away from fossil fuels and halt deforestation. It means using the tools that have come out of the negotiations – such as the Global Implementation Accelerator and Mission 1.5 – and fleshing out the Baku to Belém Roadmap to $1.3 Trillion dollars. Done right, these can catalyse cooperation and speed up action. Fourth, we must continue to evolve our own work for this new era:  Moving our process ever closer to the real economy, for faster implementation, delivering more benefits for billions more people. I have convened experts to advise on this, fully respecting that this is a Party-driven process. I’ll say more on this in the months ahead. And I will keep working with leadership in Brazil, Türkiye, Australia and - from next year - Ethiopia, towards a successful second global stocktake. Some will ask if this plan can be executed. Whether, in today’s fractured geopolitics, climate cooperation can keep delivering the major step-up that is needed. My unequivocal answer is: yes. Why? Because it is indisputably in every nation’s self-interest. Climate action delivers on the top day-to-day concerns of citizens everywhere: Lower energy and household bills. Far less pollution, so billions can breathe easier and safer. Many millions of new jobs and people with power for the first time, especially in the developing world where over 700 million people still lack energy access. That means small businesses with access to e-commerce, new customers and finance to grow… Kids with lights and technology to help them learn... Families with refrigerated food and clean cooking… And clean cooling as extreme heat gets worse. Right now, security is the word on most leaders’ lips, yet many cling to a definition that is dangerously narrow. Because let’s get real: for any leader who is serious about security, climate action is mission critical, as climate impacts wreak havoc on every population and every economy. Growing greenhouse gas pollution means escalating climate extremes fuelling famine, displacement, and war. The good news is there is now a very, very clear alternative. Because climate cooperation is an antidote to the chaos and coercion of this moment, and clean energy is the obvious solution to spiralling fossil fuel costs, both human and economic. The fact is renewables are the clearest, cheapest path to energy security and sovereignty – shielding countries and economies from shocks unleashed by wars, trade turmoil and the might-is-right politics that leave every nation poorer. The fact is climate adaptation is the only path to securing billions of human lives, as climate impacts get rapidly worse. As climate disasters hit food supplies and drive inflation, resilient supply chains are crucial for the price stability populations are demanding.  And they are increasingly unforgiving of governments who don’t deliver it. So more than ever, climate action and cooperation are the answer: not despite global instability, but because of it. There is a huge amount of work before us, this year and in the years to come. Türkiye – a crossroads of the world and a centre of diplomacy – is the perfect place to get on with this job. A place for countries with very different perspectives to come together and drive our collective efforts forward. The UN is with Türkiye and Australia every step of the way, to make sure COP31 in Antalya delivers, for people, prosperity and planet. I thank you.

Below is a statement from Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, on Thursday 8 January 2026 in response to the U.S. withdrawal from the UNFCCC. “The United States was instrumental in creating the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement, because they are both entirely in its national interests. While all other nations are stepping forward together, this latest step back from global leadership, climate cooperation and science can only harm the US economy, jobs and living standards, as wildfires, floods, mega-storms and droughts get rapidly worse.  It is a colossal own goal which will leave the US less secure and less prosperous. It will mean less affordable energy, food, transport and insurance for American households and businesses, as renewables keep getting cheaper than fossil fuels, as climate-driven disasters hit American crops, businesses and infrastructure harder each year, and as oil, coal and gas volatility drives more conflicts, regional instability and forced migration. It will also mean less American manufacturing jobs, while every other major economy ramps up its clean energy investments, powering economic growth and energy security, and pushing renewables past coal as the world’s top energy source last year. This is a key reason 194 countries said in one voice at COP30 that the global transition is now irreversible, that the Paris Agreement is working, and resolved to make it go further and faster together.  Because it’s clear this is the only way to protect every nation from record-breaking global heating and its brutal impacts on every economy and population. UN Climate Change will keep working tirelessly to help all peoples around the world share in the vast benefits of climate cooperation under the Convention and the Paris Agreement, as the global transition keeps gathering pace and scale. The doors remain open for the US to reenter in the future, as it has in the past with the Paris Agreement.  Meanwhile the size of the commercial opportunity in clean energy, climate resilience, and advanced electrotech remains too big for American investors and businesses to ignore.”

Below are remarks from UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell, during the closing plenaries of COP30 in Belém, Brazil, on Saturday 22 November 2025. Excellencies, Colleagues, Dear Friends, We knew this COP would take place in stormy political waters. Denial, division and geopolitics has dealt international cooperation some heavy blows this year. But friends. COP30 showed that climate cooperation is alive and kicking, keeping humanity in the fight for a livable planet, with a firm resolve to keep 1.5C within reach. I’m not saying we’re winning the climate fight. But we are undeniably still in it, and we are fighting back. Here in Belem, nations chose unity, science, and economic common sense. This year there has been a lot of attention on one country stepping back. But amid the gale-force political headwinds, 194 countries stood firm in solidarity - rock-solid in support of climate cooperation. 194 countries representing billions of people have said in one voice that “the Paris Agreement is working", and resolved to make it go further and faster. We see progress in a new agreement on just transition, signaling that building climate resilience and the clean economy must also be fair, with every nation and every person able to share in its vast benefits. We see it in the agreement to triple adaptation finance. Ensuring more countries have the support they need, even as climate disasters wreck lives and slam into global supply chains, on which every economy depends. For the first time, 194 nations said in unison: ‘...the global transition to low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilience is irreversible and the trend of the future.’ 194 nations agreed this word by word, because it is the truth - backed up by investment flows into renewables that now double fossil fuels. This is a political and market signal that cannot be ignored. In this new era, we must bring our process closer to the real economy, to deliver concrete results faster, and spread the benefits to billions more people. At COP30 - through the Action Agenda - that is exactly what we did. A trillion dollars for clean grids. Hundreds of millions of hectares of forest, land and oceans protected or restored. Over 400 million people becoming more resilient. And many more. These achievements are not a side-show – they are real-world progress on the things billions of people care about most. Outside these halls, billions are asking basic questions: Will there be enough food for my family? Will I be able to pay my fuel bill? Will my child breathe clean air? Are the people and places I love, will they be safe from the next flood, fire, or storm?  This COP has started to deliver on these everyday concerns. Not perfectly, not fast enough but concretely. Markets are moving, and a new economy is rising. The old polluting economy is running out of road. But disinformation is trying to keep it alive. Its impacts run deep. It has distorted the political landscape. It obscures the experiences of people around the world living under severe personal strain. The multiple effects of climate change fuel fear.  Disinformation then weaponises it. So as climate pressures push up prices, economies destabilise and communities are put under strain. Disinformation actors are opportunistic – they exploit that anxiety. Everything is blamed except the real cause. A COP of truth is fighting back. It also means we must also be realistic. Many countries wanted to move faster on fossil fuels, finance, and responding to spiraling climate disasters. I understand that frustration, and many of those I share myself. But let's not ignore how far this COP has moved us forward. With or without Navigation Aids, our direction is clear: the shift from fossil fuels to renewables and resilience is unstoppable. We’ve committed to speeding up the full implementation of national climate plans, and to strive to do better, collectively and cooperatively, together with the Action Agenda, driving forward this acceleration. For two weeks each year, COP brings climate to the top of the agenda. As we leave here, our job is to keep it there for another fifty. We’ve now seen the Indigenous word for a collective effort - ‘mutirão’ - in action. We need to carry on this spirit of mutirão that has won out here at COP30, and for that, I thank the Presidency, the people of Brazil, my colleagues at the Secretariat and all of you. I thank you. Obrigado.

Below are remarks from UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell, delivered during the opening of the high-level segment at COP30 in Belém, Brazil, on Monday 17 November 2025. Excellencies, Honourable Ministers, Your arrival meets COP mid-stride. We are no longer talking about what this COP must do – we are doing it.  But we must strive for more. Negotiators are working around the clock.  I commend the spirit of goodwill throughout week one. It reflects a widespread conviction that the Paris Agreement is humanity's only way to survive this global climate crisis, and to spread the vast benefits of climate action to all nations. We are all aware of the headwinds.  But I also sense a deep awareness of what's at stake, and the need to show climate cooperation standing firm in a fractured world. I sense a real determination to build on the major progress of recent COPs, and show – once again – that climate cooperation is working to deliver real progress, though needs to work faster and fairer. In week one, we've also seen some major steps forward in the Action Agenda – an increasingly key part of the Paris framework. In seven days nations have mustered a trillion-dollar charge into clean energy and grids, rallied around a global plan to quadruple sustainable fuels, unlocked new waves of green industry, and started preparing a pipeline for new adaptation investment. They reflect an irrefutable fact driven by this process: A new economy is rising, faster than forecasts. The good news – last year alone, more than 2.2 trillion dollars flowed into renewable energy – that’s more than the GDP of over 180 countries.  This real-world progress is not a nice-to-have. It is mission-critical.  In this new era, much will depend on bringing our process closer to the real economy, to speed up implementation, and spread its vast benefits to billions more people, as I've been saying. But friends – the pace of change in the real economy has not been matched by the pace of progress in these negotiating rooms. The spirit is there, but the speed is not.  As climate disasters wreck millions of lives and hammer every economy, pushing up prices for food and other basic needs. We all know what's at stake. I said we needed an acceleration in the Amazon, and that applies equally to how we all go about our collective work here.  Clearly – there is a huge amount of work ahead for ministers and negotiators, I urge you to get to the hardest issues fast.  When these issues get pushed deep into extra time, everybody loses. We absolutely cannot afford to waste time on tactical delays or stone-walling. The time for performative diplomacy has now passed. Now’s the time to roll-up our sleeves, come together, and get the job done. The secretariat will be with you every single step of the way. I thank you.

Below are remarks delivered by UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell at the third High-Level Ministerial Dialogue on climate finance under the CMA at COP30 in Belém, Brazil, on Saturday 15 November 2025. Excellencies, Honourable Ministers, Colleagues, dear Friends, Climate finance is the lifeblood of climate action. It is what turns plans into progress, and ambition into implementation. And nowhere is its importance clearer than at this meeting, which is not a procedural formality. It is designed to build trust – by providing clarity and predictability about the resources that developing countries can count on to deliver their national climate and adaptation plans. That trust remains essential. Without it, implementation slows, ambition falters, and progress for all becomes much, much harder. Since Paris, we have come a long way. Climate cooperation is working. Public and private flows of climate finance are growing. New partnerships are being forged. And we are seeing billions of dollars flowing into clean energy, resilience, and just transitions across the world. But the truth is, we are not far enough down that road – climate finance is not yet sufficient or reliable enough, and it is not shared widely or fairly enough. We know the scale of the challenge: climate impacts are growing – but the adaptation finance gap remains far too wide. At the same time, debt burdens are rising; and far too many of the most vulnerable countries still struggle to access even the resources that have already been pledged. So, this is an important moment. Developed country Parties were urged to have at least doubled their collective adaptation finance from 2019 levels by this year. A good way to meet this target and those we agreed in Baku last year is to triple outflows from UNFCCC climate funds by 2030. The Adaptation Fund, Least Developed Countries Fund and Special Climate Fund are key as they play an important role in scaling up finance for least developed countries and small island developing states. Ultimately, these are not abstract numbers. They are lifelines. They determine whether small island states can protect their coastlines. Whether least developed countries can adapt their agriculture to survive drought. Whether emerging economies can transition away from fossil fuels without creating new inequalities. This dialogue can send the clearest signal: that Parties are committed not only to scaling up finance, but to making it more accessible, more predictable, and more aligned with national priorities. That means stepping up public finance – through grants, concessional resources, and non-debt-creating instruments. It means simplifying access and reducing transaction costs so that finance reaches those who need it the most. It means coordinated action to address systemic challenges – high debt, high costs of capital, limited fiscal space – and to make innovative use of equity, guarantees, and debt-for-climate swaps. And it means expanding blended finance and risk-sharing mechanisms that can multiply private investment for climate-resilient, low-emission growth. I know that resources are constrained in every part of the world, and delivery isn’t easy. But climate finance is not charity – it's smart economics. Because climate action, underpinned by climate finance, is the growth story of the 21st century. And as you prepare for your next phase of Article 9.5 work, I urge you to make the outcomes as clear and actionable as possible – so that they offer real forward visibility to developing countries, and demonstrate tangible progress on the delivery of finance. Because good reporting builds credibility; credibility builds trust; every signal of trust builds more confidence in the process – enabling far greater implementation within the real economy. So Honourable Ministers, At COP30, the world is looking for proof that climate cooperation delivers. Real finance, flowing fast and fair, is central to that proof. Because when finance flows, ambition grows. And when ambition grows, implementation flows – creating jobs, easing the cost of living, improving health, protecting communities, and securing a prosperous, more resilient planet for all. So let us use this dialogue to recommit to the shared purpose that brought us to Paris a decade ago. Let us show – through the predictability and transparency of climate finance – that we are serious about delivering for people and for the planet, unlocking the vast benefits of climate action for everyone, everywhere. I thank you.