Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe, alongside its coalition of regional civil society organisations, is calling on the governments of the Western Balkans to engage politically and technically at the upcoming UNFCCC June Climate Meetings (SB64) in Bonn, warning that inaction now will mean inheriting decisions made without them.
Brussels, 5 June 2026 – As the international community prepares for the 64th session of the UNFCCC Subsidiary Bodies (SB64), CAN Europe calls for a stronger and more visible engagement of the Western Balkans in global climate processes at a critical moment for international climate action.
The call comes against the backdrop of the First International Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels, held in Santa Marta, Colombia, in April 2026. The conference brought together 57 countries to discuss how to manage the transition away from fossil fuels in a just, equitable and adequately financed manner. While the Western Balkans were not present at this landmark gathering, future international discussions offer important opportunities for the region to engage more actively in shaping and benefiting from the global energy transition.
SB64 in Bonn represents the first major multilateral checkpoint since COP30 in Belém shifted the global climate agenda from ambition-setting to implementation. Critical items on the agenda – including the work programme on public climate finance (Article 9.1), the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) dialogue, the Just Transition mechanism, and the Belém Mission to 1.5 – will directly shape the framework within which Western Balkans economies must accelerate their energy transitions.
“The Belém Antalya Action Mechanism on Just Transition was the strongest political win of COP30, and its final operationalisation will be decided at COP31 in Antalya. For coal-dependent economies like ours in the region, that decision will shape the terms of their transition for decades. But you cannot benefit from a just transition mechanism you had no hand in designing. Our letter is a direct call to WB governments: show up at Bonn, coordinate regionally, and treat SB64 not as a diplomatic formality but as a serious opportunity to shape what COP31 will deliver for the region”, says Frosina Antonovska, Climate and Energy Policy Coordinator for the Western Balkans, CAN Europe.
The stakes are concrete and immediate. The EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) is already operational, making trade-linked climate obligations a reality for the region’s exporters. The Brazilian COP30 Presidency led process on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels (TAFF) Roadmap development is advancing. Bonn is serving as the critical step in the built momentum, before COP31 in Antalya. Countries that engage now will help shape these processes. Those that do not will inherit their outcomes.
Four Calls to Action
CAN Europe and co-signatories are calling on Western Balkans governments and the coordination efforts under Energy Community Secretariat to take the following steps ahead of and during SB64:
1. Align NDCs under preparation with a fossil fuel transition pathway and EU targets:
NDCs under preparation must be aligned with a fossil fuel transition pathway and EU targets. Countries yet to submit NDC 3.0 must present credible, absolute economy-wide 2035 targets consistent with the 1.5°C trajectory, including explicit, time-bound coal phase-out roadmaps. New gas infrastructure investments, such as the Southern Gas Interconnection in Bosnia and Herzegovina, are incompatible with this trajectory.
2. Align domestic and international policy with a fossil fuel phase-out trajectory:
Domestic and international policy must be aligned with a fossil fuel phase-out. Western Balkans governments must embed carbon pricing roadmaps and industrial decarbonisation strategies in national economic plans, in line with Energy Community Treaty obligations. Public investment, state aid, and energy subsidies must be screened for alignment with low-carbon pathways.
3. Address structural financial and governance barriers to climate finance access:
The SB64 finance agenda offers political leverage to push for fair, grant-based and concessional finance flows for adaptation and just transition. A coordinated WB6 regional position would substantially amplify the region’s negotiating weight.
4. Embed just transition, adaptation and civil society participation:
Just transition, adaptation and civil society participation must be embedded at the core of the region’s climate engagement. COP31 is expected to operationalise the Just Transition (Belém Antalya) Mechanism. Coal-dependent Western Balkans economies have the most to gain – and the most to lose – from delayed engagement. Meaningful participation of workers, communities and civil society is a prerequisite for social legitimacy.
COP31 as a Structural Checkpoint
COP31 in Antalya will be a structural checkpoint for the Western Balkans’ climate and EU accession trajectories alike. The decisions being shaped in Bonn over the coming weeks will determine the room for manouvre in Antalya. CAN Europe urges governments in the region to act now – not after the text is drafted.
Read the full coalition letter here below:
Contacts:
Media briefing: https://caneurope.org/news/media-briefing-sb-64/