Amnesty International on Friday urged states attending the June Climate Meetings in Bonn, Germany, to turn existing climate commitments into a concrete, rights-centered action plan ahead of the COP31 summit in Antalya, Türkiye, this November. The rights group argued that climate policy will fail unless it is built around human rights, including the rights to life, health, food, water, housing, culture, and a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.
By placing human rights at the center of climate action, Amnesty said states can make the COP31 process more equitable and more accountable. The organization warned, however, that failure to turn legal and political commitments into concrete action would deepen public distrust in global climate negotiations and leave vulnerable communities without meaningful protection.
Ann Harrison, Amnesty International’s climate policy adviser, said climate plans that leave out human rights are unjust and unlikely to succeed. She urged governments to use the Bonn meetings to produce real progress before COP31, rather than repeating commitments that do not protect those already suffering the worst effects of climate change.
The June meetings in Bonn are part of the UN climate process under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). They are technical negotiations, but they often shape the political direction of later COP summits by preparing draft texts, work programs, and negotiation priorities. This makes the talks important for determining whether COP31 will focus only on general pledges or produce stronger implementation measures.
Amnesty’s demand comes after years of criticism that international climate negotiations have produced repeated pledges with insufficient implementation. The 2015 Paris Agreement committed states to limit global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius and pursue efforts to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. However, almost a decade later, rights groups and climate-vulnerable states continue to argue that national climate plans, finance commitments, and fossil fuel policies remain inconsistent with that goal.
The fossil fuel phase-out debate has also become central to recent climate negotiations. At COP28, states agreed on language calling for a transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems, a result the UN climate body described as signalling the “beginning of the end” of the fossil fuel era. Amnesty said governments must now turn that political language into practical decisions, including ending fossil fuel expansion and ensuring that workers and communities are protected during the transition.
The organization also pointed to the widening climate finance gap facing developing countries. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has estimated that developing countries need about USD 1.1 trillion in climate finance from 2025 and about USD 1.8 trillion by 2030, while Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) data show wealthy countries reported only USD 115.9 billion in climate finance in 2022. Amnesty said this gap shows why climate commitments must be matched with adequate, accessible, and rights-based funding.
The demand for accountability follows the International Court of Justice’s 2025 major advisory opinion on states’ climate obligations. The court clarified that states have duties under international law to protect the climate system and prevent serious environmental harm. Rights advocates have relied on the opinion to argue that continued fossil fuel expansion, weak emissions targets, or failure to regulate major polluters may expose states to legal responsibility.
The next steps in the Bonn talks include further work on just transition, climate finance, adaptation, and loss and damage. These discussions are expected to influence the level of ambition governments take to COP31, which is scheduled to be held from November 9 to 20 in Antalya.
