Politicians And Activists Gather For COP23 Bonn Climate Talks - In Pictures

The Guardian

Bonn climate change conference

The world’s nations are meeting in Bonn, Germany, for the 23rd annual “conference of the parties” (COP) under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which aims to prevent dangerous global warming. This year, Fiji plays president and meeting the Paris climate goals are top of the agenda.

Members of the Guardians of the Forest, a group of indigenous leaders who have been criss-crossing Europe by bus over the past two weeks. Photograph: Tolga Akmen/AFP/Getty Images

For the first time, this round of UN climate talks is being held by one of the small island nations that are most at risk from the sea-level rise and extreme storms that climate change is bringing. Fiji’s prime minister, Frank Bainimarama (second right), is the COP president, though the summit is being held in Germany for practical reasons. Photograph: James Dowson/UNFCCC

Activists hold giant balloons labelled CO2 in front of the Neurath coal power plant during protests prior to talks. 2017 is set to be one of the hottest three years on record, provisional data suggests, confirming yet again a warming trend that scientists say bears the fingerprints of human actions. Photograph: Philipp Guelland/EPA

Climate change activists march to demonstrate against coal energy and other climate-related issues. Photograph: Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Not far from the UN talks, activists frustrated with slow progress by governments are turning up the heat at Germany’s opencast mines, highlighting the country’s failure to live up to its green pledges. Photograph: Omer Messinger/EPA

People arrive for the opening ceremony of the COP23 talks, which aim to meet the goals laid out in the Paris agreement two years ago. Photograph: Andreas Rentz/Getty Images

The welcoming ceremony. Photograph: UNFCC

Fijians perform a traditional ceremony during the opening of the talks. The conference is under the presidency of the government of Fiji this year. Photograph: Ronald Wittek/EPA

Children take part in a climate march prior to the opening session. New data shows how the world would look if governments fail in their pledge to hold global warming to 2C. Photograph: Wolfgang Rattay/Reuters

At the welcoming ceremony (l-r): Hoesung Lee, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; Ashok-Alexander Sridharan, mayor of Bonn; UNFCCC executive secretary, Patricia Espinosa; Jan Szyszko, minister of environment, Poland, and incoming COP24 president; Frank Bainimarama, COP 23 president; Salaheddine Mezouar, Moroccan foreign minister and president of COP22; Barbara Hendricks, German environment minister, and Petteri Taalas, secretary-general, World Meteorological Organisation. Photograph: James Dowson/UNFCC

Fiji has renamed the talks from the bland “facilitative dialogue” to the “talanoa dialogue” after a Pacific island concept of using storytelling and talking as a way to make good decisions. Photograph: Andreas Rentz/Getty Images

Jason Box, professor in glaciology at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, joined a session on Arctic climate change and its global impacts via video call. Photograph: Courtesy of IIDS

Veteran climate scientist James Hansen and his granddaughter, Sophie Kivlehan, who is among 21 young plaintiffs bringing a lawsuit against the US federal government over its CO2 emissions. Photograph: Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Young bloggers from Brazil prepare climate change messages for social media. Photograph: Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Representatives of the Women and Gender constituency conduct an aerobics class to remind COP23 delegates to metaphorically “mind the gap” of gender inequality, and “reach” for a gender action plan. Photograph: Courtesy of IISD

Delegates read the Earth Negotiations Bulletin to keep track of progress. Photograph: Courtesy of IISD

The breadth of protest at the talks can be seen by these banners. Photograph: Ronald Wittek/EPA

Links

• The COP23 climate change summit in Bonn and why it matters
• Bonn climate talks will aim to meet goals laid out in Paris, says UN
• Bonn climate talks must go further than Paris pledges to succeed
• Rich nations accused over 'logging loophole' at Bonn climate talks
• California Gov. Jerry Brown delivers a blunt climate change message in Germany
• UN says 2017 set to be among top three hottest years, as Bonn climate talks seek action despite US stance
• COP23 climate change summit begins in Bonn
• Tiny Fiji looks for global impact at Bonn climate talks
• Bonn voyage: climate diplomats head into another round of talks
• Five things that should happen at the Bonn climate talks but probably won’t