Building climate diplomacy back better: imagining the UNFCCC meetings of tomorrow

This fact sheet by the Stockholm Environment Institute examines the potential for a digital transition within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process. It explores how moving activities online could serve as a catalyst to improve the effectiveness, inclusiveness, and transparency of climate diplomacy, while identifying significant barriers such as a lack of trust among Parties and concerns over structural inequities.

• While there is general support for moving some UNFCCC activities online, the transition is hindered by a lack of a clear champion and a growing preference for returning to fully in-person negotiations. The primary obstacles are a pervasive lack of trust between Parties and concerns that digital formats could exacerbate existing structural inequities within the UNFCCC.
• A digital transition offers an opportunity to modernize diplomacy by rethinking outdated and opaque practices, such as 'late-night marathons' and 'the huddle'. However, such a transition requires careful design to avoid simply replicating existing processes online and must explicitly address trade-offs between agenda breadth and participant inclusivity.
• Moving to virtual meetings creates risks for accountability, as journalists may find them harder to cover and NGOs fear the format could be used to restrict access, reduce transparency, and limit advocacy and watchdog activities.
• The document recommends establishing a taskforce under the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI) agenda item "Arrangements for Intergovernmental Meetings" to advise on future session formats. This taskforce should include the SBI chair, the UNFCCC Secretariat, observer constituencies, and representatives from all five UN regional groups.
• To improve coordination and address grievances, the report suggests that Annex-I Parties engage in open-ended dialogue with non-Annex-I Parties, possibly involving the EU and the Group of 77 and China. It highlights the 'African Hub' hosted by Egypt during the 2021 SB sessions as a successful example of improving negotiation capacity for African Parties.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2021). Building climate diplomacy back better: imagining the UNFCCC meetings of tomorrow. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/oncline-seifactsheet2021.pdf

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Building climate diplomacy back better: imagining the UNFCCC meetings of tomorrow. 2021. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/oncline-seifactsheet2021.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Building climate diplomacy back better: imagining the UNFCCC meetings of tomorrow |date=October 2021 |url=https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/oncline-seifactsheet2021.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2021building, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Building climate diplomacy back better: imagining the UNFCCC meetings of tomorrow}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2021}, month = oct, url = {https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/oncline-seifactsheet2021.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }