The following statement was delivered during the COP31 Presidency’s informal consultations with observers on June 16 2026 on behalf of the ENGO-DCJ constituency during the 64th meeting of the Subsidiary Bodies (SB64) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC):

Thank you Co-Chairs

I am speaking on behalf of the Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice, ENGO DCJ.

As we move from COP30 to COP31, the central challenge before us is implementation. But there is no implementation without means of implementation. The commitments made in Belém must now be translated into concrete action that delivers justice for the communities already living at the front line of the ongoing climate crisis.

On climate finance, Article 9.1 must remain at the centre of this work. Developed countries have a legal obligation to provide public, grant-based, predictable and adequate climate finance to developing countries. Climate finance cannot be reduced to mobilisation targets, voluntary contributions or private investment. We are very concerned about the repeated attempts to erase the decisions and commitments in Belém on Adaptation and Adaptation finance including the commitment to triple the adaptation finance. Without finance for adaptation and loss and damage, our communities on the ground will continue to suffer.

On just transition, civil society condemns tactics from the Global North to weaken and delay the just transition mechanism: developed countries claim that all the bodies in the UN doing just transition work must be mapped before we can develop the mechanism and that the mechanism is not mandated to go beyond knowledge sharing. Developing countries, Indigenous Peoples, frontline workers, peasants, fisherfolk, Afro-descendants, fenceline communities, women and youth will feel the effects of these delay tactics first and foremost.  We urge the COP31 presidency to name just transition as a priority for intersessional work, and, given that negotiations for the JT mechanism are lacking in time, that intersessional work and negotiations are organised to ensure that the Just Transition Mechanism – or the BAM, as we like to call it – can be operationalised as swiftly as possible to deliver concrete actions for people and communities on the ground. Intersessional work is absolutely crucial at this point, and we don’t need Pre-COP or HoDs to be that place. We need it earlier and at negotiators’ level due to the detailed negotiations required. Crucially, civil society must be a strong and present participant in the intersessional work on just transition. 

We further urge you to support DCJ’s demands for the BAM. 

We emphasise that the BAM must be people-powered.

The BAM must give representation and decision-making power to UN observers and broader civil society in the mechanism’s governing structure as well as its knowledge-generation arm. The BAM must provide guidelines for the inclusion of all sectors in the processes of national and local transitions.

The BAM must align with and promote the principles of a just transition.

The just transition principles developed in COP30 already serve as strong signals to all actors on what just transition should mean. The BAM must be guided by these principles but also empower people and governments to further develop and expand these principles.

The BAM must enable just and equitable finance, technology transfer and capacity building.

There can be no equitable transition without provision of grant-based climate finance, technology transfer and capacity building from developed to developing countries.  The BAM must prioritise direct access to funding people, workers and communities. Technology transfer should also be grounded in justice and equity while also excluding false solutions.

The BAM must go beyond the energy transition.

The BAM must take a whole-of-economy approach and address the multidimensional nature of just transition, beyond the mitigation-centric focus on the energy workforce. Just transition cannot be limited to energy systems alone. It must address food systems, workers’ rights, public services, care economies, critical minerals and development pathways.

Lastly, the BAM must be fully operational by 2027.

We’re also deeply concerned with the presence of nature-based solutions and other false solutions throughout this space including in the JT, climate finance, adaptation, and also using the 1.5 degree overshoot narrative to push for more of these technofixes. False solutions commodify and exploit Mother Earth, promote land grabs from Indigenous Peoples and fail to address pollution at its source. Market-based mechanisms, which are pervasive within the UNFCCC, fail to address the fossil fuel extraction and capitalistic greed at the root of climate change while rewarding polluters by allowing them to claim carbon neutrality for business as usual. 

On agriculture, we urge Parties to prioritise agroecology and food sovereignty, including seed sovereignty, as proven solutions that strengthen resilience, livelihoods and biodiversity. Climate action in agriculture must address the harms of industrial agricultural systems and reject approaches that commodify land, food and ecosystems through climate smart agriculture, carbon markets and other market-based mechanisms. We therefore hope that the COP31 Presidency not only elevates agriculture and food security through the Action Agenda, but also injects renewed ambition, political will and urgency into the formal negotiations. 

The credibility of this process will be measured not by new initiatives and dialogues, but by whether it delivers accountability, finance and justice for the peoples and communities on the frontlines of the crisis.

Thank you.