by Tony La Viña, Jan Cherome Sison, Jayvy Gamboa, Ally Munda, Gab Mesina
The recent SB62, or 62nd Session of the UNFCCC Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) and the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI), held in Bonn may look like technical meetings on paper, but their outcomes are deeply political. These negotiations lay the foundational architecture for key decisions at the upcoming 30th Conference of the Parties (COP30) in Belém, Brazil. For the Philippines, a country on the front lines of the climate crisis, SB62’s preliminary discussions are not abstract; they are critical determinants of climate resilience and equitable development pathways. Bonn spotlighted core challenges: climate finance, just transitions, and escalating climate risks. These will define the global pact’s credibility and shape the Philippines’ readiness ahead of November.
Trust, Delivery, and the 2025 Test
2025 is a watershed year. COP30 is tasked as the “delivery COP”, where ambition must translate into implementation. The Paris Agreement’s ambition cycle requires updated, ambitious national climate commitments (also called Nationally Determined Contributions or NDCs) by 2025 (United Nations, All About the NDCs, n.d.). These plans will determine global emissions trajectories and resilience efforts through 2035.
For climate-vulnerable countries like the Philippines, NDCs must go beyond emission cuts. They also need robust, adaptation-anchored blueprints aligned with National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) (Manila Observatory, 2025), laying out:
• Renewable energy transitions and fossil fuel subsidy reform;
• Sector-specific climate targets;
• Infrastructure resilience strategies; and,
• Transparency and accountability mechanisms.
The energy-related elements listed in paragraph 28 of the GST outcome, such as “phase-down of unabated coal power”, “[t]ransitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems”, and “[p]hasing out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies” (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, 2024), must not remain optional. Parties must take them seriously and embed these actions in their updated NDCs to reflect the GST’s call for ambition and implementation.
Despite geopolitical instability and economic uncertainty, many developing countries continue to champion ambitious, fair climate action. For instance, the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) deal at COP29 in Baku, salvaged at the last minute by countries like Colombia, Kenya, and small island states, showed that multilateralism remains alive, but fragile.
And fragility was evident at SB62 itself. Agenda adoption was delayed by disputes over developed country-led climate finance (Article 9.1 of the Paris Agreement). The EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) sparked controversy, with developing countries calling it a breach of the UNFCCC’s fundamental principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities (CBDR-RC). The Philippines pushed back, stating that sidelining climate finance agenda items undermines UNFCCC credibility. These procedural battles underscore that trust is crucial; and, trust is predicated on developed countries delivering real and scalable finance for implementation.
Finance and Risk: What the Philippines Faces
At Bonn, discussions on climate-driven risks revealed both momentum and deep underfunding. The pledges for the Fund for responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD) is at USD 768.40 million, woefully inadequate compared to the USD 70 billion needed annually by developing countries and expected to reach USD 140-300 billion in 2030 and USD 280-500 billion in 2050 (United Nations Environment Programme, 2021). Without a robust replenishment strategy and simplified access, the Fund will fall short of its mandate to protect vulnerable communities.
For the Philippines, facing worsening climate threats, the Fund’s weakness poses a major risk. International support must be grant-based, not loan-based. Adding debt would compound rather than alleviate suffering. Additionally, direct-access mechanisms, with simplified procedures and participation from Indigenous Peoples, women, youth, and local communities are essential for transparency and immediate impact.
Meanwhile, the Santiago Network for Loss and Damage (SNLD), meant to deliver technical assistance on loss and damage, is critically underfunded, with only USD 40.6 million available (White, 2025). This makes COP30’s third review of the WIM an opportunity to knit together the FRLD, the SNLD, and national systems into a coherent, rights-based architecture that can genuinely respond to climate impacts.
The broader climate finance story is equally stark. Emerging economies outside China need USD 2.3 to 2.5 trillion per year by 2030 to meet climate targets (Perinchery, 2024). Yet the USD 300 billion annual roadmap agreed at COP29 (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, 2024) falls far short. Developing countries emphasize that public, grant-based finance must be prioritized over private-market solutions. This means asserting that the Means of Implementation (MOI) are treaty obligations that developed countries must fulfill, not aspirational targets. As transparency and accountability mechanisms improve, so too must the urgency and integrity of delivery.
The “Just” in Just Transition
Bonn’s discussion on just transitions brought clarity: transformative pathways must be nationally determined, sensitive to inequality, and rooted in systemic change. For fast-growing economies like the Philippines, scaling up clean energy must go hand-in-hand with social protections, recognition of affected communities, and decent work. At COP30, the country should push for stronger outcomes under the UAE Just Transition Work Programme (JTWP), calling for a framework that delivers real-world wins for people on the ground.
Yet Bonn revealed unresolved tensions:
• Funding and capacity gaps, especially for adaptation and reskilling;
• The impact of neoliberal policies, such as trade-restrictive measures, on emerging economies; and
• Recognition of human rights, including Indigenous Peoples’ rights, as integral to transition plans.
Developing countries stressed that without capacity-building, finance, and technology transfer, transition plans remain merely aspirational. Some also emphasized gender-sensitive policies, labor rights, and protection for informal and vulnerable sectors. With these topics being brought to the table in discussing JTWP, it can be said that it is one of the workstreams with the greatest potential to meaningfully reflect social justice, if it lives up to its promise.
COP30 Agenda: Philippine Priorities in Focus
Hosted in Brazil’s Amazon region, COP30 carries symbolic weight, but substance will define its legacy. As stated in the COP Presidency’s letter dated May 23, 2025, “Special focus will be given to: (i) the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA) indicators under the UAE–Belém Work Programme, (ii) the UAE Dialogue on implementing the GST outcomes, and (iii) the UAE Just Transition Work Programme (JTWP)” (COP 30 President Designate, 2025) For Philippine negotiators and advocates, this presents a clear target:
1. GST Implementation
The UAE Dialogue must trigger concrete action, on finance, deployment of climate solutions, and accountability, not just become another reporting forum. The Philippines insists that Means of Implementation must remain core to any GST follow-up text.
2. Adaptation Finance
The 2025 deadline to double adaptation finance should not mark an end, but a baseline. COP30 must set a new, higher adaptation goal, grant-funded, equitable, and capable of supporting NAPs from planning to implementation. Civil society should push for inclusive indicators capturing social equity, health, and the unique needs of vulnerable groups.
3. Loss and Damage Delivery
The FRLD and SNLD’s effectiveness will be a litmus test for COP30. Loss and Damage, despite its wins in the previous COPs, should not take the backseat. Adequate resourcing, simplified access, and genuine stakeholder engagement are necessary to translate promises into relief for communities.
4. Just Transitions
Just Transition pathways must be ambitious and immediate, yet grounded in nationally determined priorities, inclusive processes, and supported by international assistance, not conditionality or empty rhetoric.
5. Inclusive Diplomacy
Calls at SB62 for “finance minister circles”, or high-level dialogues among finance leaders to shape climate finance strategies, spotlighted the risks of sidestepping full representation. COP30 must be participatory, from local governments to Indigenous Peoples and youth, ensuring decisions are collectively owned and democratically governed.
The Path From Bonn to Belém
SB62 reminded Parties and non-Party Stakeholders including Observers that technical negotiations and political decisions are tightly intertwined. Draft conclusions honored national circumstances and emphasized the enabling role of finance, capacity, and technology. But real progress depends on translating these signals into material support and equitable systems.
For the Philippines, active engagement in these global arenas remains essential, not just as a moral imperative but as a strategic necessity. The summit in Belém must mark a turning point:
• From rhetoric to resources;
• From plans to implementation;
• From isolation to system-wide solidarity;
• From vulnerability to resilience.
COP30 offers a generational opportunity. For the Philippines, staying the course means sustaining momentum, safeguarding justice, and ensuring that global ambition is not just proclaimed but also delivered. The clock is ticking, the world is watching, and this year, plans must meet practice.
References
Correa do Lago, A.A. (COP30 President Designate). (2025, May 23). COP Presidency Letter. https://cop30.br/en/brazilian-presidency/letters-from-the-presidency/third-letter-from-the-presidency.
Manila Observatory. (2025, June 2). Adaptation-centered just transition pathways: A mapping of options for understanding just transition in the context of adaptation [Submission to the UNFCCC SBSTA and SBI Chairs’ Call under the UAE Just Transition Work Programme, Decision 3/CMA.5, para. 9]. https://www4.unfccc.int/sites/SubmissionsStaging/Documents/202506022242—JTWP%20Submission_Adaptation%20Centered%20JT%20Pathways_Manila%20Observatory%20(06.02.25).pdf.
Perinchery, A. (2024, November 15). COP29: Developing Countries Other Than China Need Around $ 2.4 Trillion Each Year for Climate Action by 2030. The Wire. https://thewire.in/world/cop29-developing-countries-china-2-4-trillion-usd.
UN Environment Programme. (2021, January 14). Step up climate change adaptation or face serious human and economic damage – UN report. https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/press-release/step-climate-change-adaptation-or-face-serious-human-and-economic.
United Nations. (n.d.). All About the NDCs. https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/all-about-ndcs.
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. (2024, March 15). Decision 1/CMA.5: Outcome of the first global stocktake. https://unfccc.int/documents/637073.
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. (2024, November 24). COP29 UN Climate Conference Agrees to Triple Finance to Developing Countries, Protecting Lives and Livelihoods. https://unfccc.int/news/cop29-un-climate-conference-agrees-to-triple-finance-to-developing-countries-protecting-lives-and#:~:text=Triple%20finance%20to%20developing%20countries%2C%20from%20the,USD%201.3%20trillion%20per%20year%20by%202035.
White, H. (2025, May 1). A Practical Guide to Support Available under the UN Climate Change Regime to Respond to Loss and Damage. The Loss & Damage Collaboration. https://www.lossanddamagecollaboration.org/resources/a-practical-guide-to-support-available-under-the-un-climate-change-regime-to-respond-to-loss-and-damage#:~:text=It%20is%20unclear%20whether%20this,its%20operations%20and%20technical%20assistance.