UN climate chief Simon Stiell said the world "cannot afford to stumble" as climate experts gathered in the German city of Bonn on Monday for the UN's annual June climate meetings.
Opening the conference, Stiell said "climate action will need to move at a much, much faster pace" if the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius is to achieved.
He added that the world is currently on course for 2.7 degrees of global heating, down from initial estimates of 5 degrees before international co-operation to tackle climate change began under the UN's leadership.
The meeting in Bonn is crucial to achieving further reductions in heating, Stiell said. "There's a long and steep road ahead," he added.
Stiell, from the Caribbean island nation of Grenada, leads the UN's Framework Convention on Climate Change (FWCC), which organizes the Bonn conference.
Almost 6,000 delegates are expected to attend the ten-day gathering, in preparation for the 29th Conference of Parties (COP29) talks in Azerbaijan in November.
The main issue on the table at the negotiations in Bonn is financing the costs of climate change.
Industrialized countries have promised to support poorer nations hit by the consequences of climate change with billions in aid.
The loss and damage fund - as the financing has come to be known - was first formally adopted at the 27th Conference of Parties (COP) meeting in Egypt in 2022, but a backlash against climate policies and global economic struggles since the coronavirus pandemic may limit wealthier countries' willingness to come up with signifiant funds.
Other topics to be discussed include the next round of national climate action plans, adaptation plans and work on achieving a just transition.
