Areas of Work

International Climate Negotiations and Climate Science

QUNO works to foster enhanced trust and understanding in international negotiations to promote ambitious and fair global action to address climate change and related planetary crises.

QUNO has been involved with the international climate change negotiations at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) since 2012. In the highly political space of the UNFCCC, we offer off-the-record quiet diplomacy discussions for climate negotiators. These discussions aim to build communication, understanding and trust between a diverse group of countries on issues sensitive to the negotiations at that time. Our presence in this space is continuously evolving in response to the needs of the negotiations. Once focused on supporting the creation of the Paris Agreement, we now hold space for discussions on effective and fair implementation of that Agreement. See our analysis of the latest COP28 here

QUNO is actively engaged in monitoring the work of the Subsidiary Bodies within the UNFCCC where, as members of the Research and Non-governmental Organisations constituency (RINGO), we observe the UNFCCC Committees, including the Katowice Committee of Experts (Response Measures), Loss and Damage, and the Facilitative Working Group of the Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform.  Here, we focus on the human and nature impact of decisions made and advocate for rights-based, urgent and ambitious climate action and finance to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C above industrial levels.

We are also the only independent faith-based accredited observer at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and are expert reviewers of the IPCC reports.  Our work there is twofold. We support climate research for urgent, equitable and transformative climate policy, which promotes sustainable and just economic, energy, agricultural systems, and behaviour change to transform root causes of climate change driven by human activity. For examples of our interventions in IPCC approval sessions, please click the following links:  AR6 Physical ScienceAR6 Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability, AR6 Mitigation and AR6 Synthesis Report. Secondly, we develop publications which communicate these critical IPCC climate findings to a range of audiences, including diplomats, UN colleagues, climate activists and the general public. For an example of this work, please see the article ‘The Latest IPCC Synthesis Report: What We Learned About Climate Science, and What We Learned About Ourselves’ by Lindsey Fielder Cook.

A 4-minute video explaining our IPCC work (link)

Recent Timeline Events

June 2024

QUNO's climate science toolkit for government officials now available in four languages

The Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO) in Geneva has now published ‘A Government Official’s Toolkit: Inspiring Urgent, Healthy, Equitable, and Available at Scale Climate Action’ in four languages: Arabic, English, French and Spanish.

This toolkit aims to enhance understanding and communication of climate change and climate science, using the most recent scientific findings from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) 6th Assessment Report (AR6). This report was compiled over a period of just more than seven years and involved hundreds of scientists worldwide. 

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June 2024

QUNO publishes guide on climate science and actions in four languages

QUNO Geneva has now published 'Climate Change: What We Can Do' (previously known as 'How To Be A Hero For All Our Children') in four languages: Arabic, English, French, and Spanish. 

The guide connects climate science to actions we can take to aid in our collective empowerment to transform the root causes driving planetary crisis.

'What We Can Do' has been updated with the most recent scientific findings from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) 6th Assessment Report (AR6).

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June 2024

QUNO advocates for ethical climate action at climate negotiations

QUNO’s Human Impact of Climate Change (HICC) team, Lindsey and Anna, spent the past two weeks at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations in Bonn, Germany, advocating for urgent, equitable, near-term available-at-scale climate policies. Negotiations were tense and Parties disagreed over key issues on climate finance and mitigation.

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