You’ve probably heard of COP, the big UN climate summit that makes the news every year. But every June, there’s a smaller, quieter meeting that happens first: this year it ran from 8 to 18 June in Bonn, Germany. It’s where governments, campaigners, and yes, fossil fuel lobbyists, sit down to work through the details of climate finance, adaptation, and the shift away from fossil fuels, months before COP. Think of it as the kitchen where the recipe for the next big summit gets written, long before anyone sits down to eat. This was my first time in that kitchen. I went in feeling both overwhelmed and energized in equal measure. Why being in the room matters Here’s the thing about a space like Bonn: if everyday people and civil society aren’t in the room, someone else fills it. (Analysis from Kick Big Polluters Out shows the extent to which Big Banks attended COP30 in 2025 and financed $409 billion in fossil fuels in 2024). And that someone is rarely on the side of the communities I work with across East Africa like those who resist fossil fuel exploitation like EACOP and protect our ecosystems, as well as those that the REPower Afrika campaign hosts through the AfrikaVuka network . They are all mobilizing to lead the transition toward a just, decentralized, and renewable energy future for all. I never met a lobbyist wearing a badge that said ‘fossil fuel industry.’ That’s not how it works. But you could feel them: sitting close to government delegations, quietly slowing things down whenever real progress was within reach. I felt it most around the push to move countries away from fossil fuels. Nearly 90 countries had backed a plan for this kind of transition last year. It still didn’t make it into the final text in Bonn. That’s not an accident. So when people ask why 350 sends someone like me to these talks, this is the answer: someone has to say, out loud and in the room, that fossil fuels are not affordable — not for the climate, and not for the communities already paying the price. Rukiya at COP Bonn negotiations. Photo: Bonaventure Bondo The people who reassured me If you asked me to name the one person who inspired me most, I honestly couldn’t give you a single name. That would undersell what I actually experienced. I shared the halls with climate campaigners, gender justice advocates, Indigenous leaders, students, journalists, and young organisers — all coming at the same fight from different angles, whether that’s trade, finance, gender, or human rights. Different doors into the same house. Over those two weeks, I sat down with people from GreenFaith, PELUM Association, Germanwatch, Power Shift Africa, CAN Africa, CAN International, Oxfam, Greenpeace and many more. I spoke with the head of the African Group of Negotiators, and with party delegates from Tanzania, Mozambique, Uganda, Kenya, Gambia, Benin, and Finland, among others, along with researchers from the University of Reading. Each conversation was a small window into how differently, and even how similarly, countries and movements are approaching the same crisis and how we are all working towards the solution and all we need is political will and urgency. Rukiya meeting African Group of Negotiators Chair Nana Dr.Antwi-Boasiako Amoah. Photo: Baboucar Nyang Knowing that so many people are out there working toward the same goal was its own kind of reassurance. The communities we represent are not missing from these rooms. We are there. What I’m bringing home A few things stood out that I’ll carry back into my work across East Africa. Local champions matter. Every country needs people in government and civil society who are willing to push a climate justice agenda forward — and part of our job is finding and backing them, before, during, and after moments like this. Urgency is uneven. Too many governments, including from countries that are themselves vulnerable to climate change, are still treating this crisis as something to manage slowly rather than the emergency it actually is. Priorities differ from country to country, and that’s useful to know. Tanzania, for example, is focused on climate finance; Nigeria is more focused on adaptation. Understanding these differences helps us support more tailored, local advocacy rather than a one-size-fits-all approach. More than anything, the conversations in Bonn gave us good bones for what comes next. They gave us a clearer sense of what our countries are actually prioritizing on the road to the next big summits. Now the work is turning that insight into real organising on the ground — connecting local priorities to regional and global ones, without leaving anyone behind. It’s also a chance to push the conversation beyond just emissions, toward the things that actually shape people’s lives: energy access, jobs, and affordability. Rukiya with fellow CAN and AfrikaVuka Network partner Kenneth Nana Amoateng at the Loss and Damage action. Photo: Rukiya Khamis Wherever we raise the banner for a just, community-centred shift to renewable energy — even if it’s just a handful of us — that is already a win. The conversations in Bonn gave us more momentum for what we are already doing: a year of shifting power from polluters to the people. That’s the Great Power Shift. Join us. The post Bonn is where the recipe gets made appeared first on 350.