ecbi convened its 2025 Oxford Seminar from 27-29 August at the Examination Schools in Oxford. The Seminar was preceded by the Fellows Colloquium, which met from 25-27 August at Magdalen College. This year marked a milestone as ecbi celebrates its 20th Anniversary.

The Fellows Colloquium brings together developing country negotiators who discuss amongst themselves pertinent topics that are under negotiations in advance of upcoming COPs. During the Seminar, the Fellows then present the outcomes of their discussions to their European partners. The Seminar takes place under the Chatham House Rule, which allows for frank and open exchanges and the building of trust among developing countries and their European partners.

The following topics were discussed during the Seminar both in plenary session and in breakout groups, which provided the opportunity for more in-depth exchanges.:

• Mitigation Work Programme (MWP);
• Baku to Belém Roadmap to 1.3T, which is aimed at scaling up climate finance to developing country Parties;
• Gender; Global Goal on Adaptation;
• Just Transition Work Programme (JTWP);
• the International Country of Justice (ICJ) advisory opinion on on the obligations of states regarding climate change;
• the Global Stocktake (GST), including progress on implementing the outcomes of the first GST and lessons learned for the second GST;
• repurposing COP sessions; the COP30 Action Agenda;
• future arrangements for intergovernmental meetings under the UNFCCC; and
• an app developed for COP30 that translates documents into more than 80 languages.

Of particular interest and timeliness, the presentation on the ICJ advisory opinion, delivered by Kate Cook, a barrister at Matrix Chambers in London, addressed how the opinion might impact on the climate negotiations. Another session that provoked lively debate explored ways in which the climate negotiations could be repurposed to be more streamlined, effective, and focused on implementation. On the JTWP, one issue that was debated was whether a new mechanism was needed to help developing countries implement the work programme. Liliam Chagas and Mario Mottin, representing the incoming Brazilian COP Presidency, presented on the COP30 Action Agenda, which is based on six Axes (energy transition, biodiversity, agriculture and food systems, building resilience, social development, and the cross-cutting issue of enablers and accelerators), 30 key objectives, and a granary of solutions. Chagas also introduced a a virtual assistant (Macaozinho), which was developed based on official documents released by the UNFCCC, approved IPCC reports, and articles by the Brazilian technical team. In 80 languages, it provides reliable formation on topics related to the negotiations at both COP30 in Belém and previous COPs.

The ecbi Director began the 20th anniversary celebration dinner in the Sheldonian Theatre on 28 August with some reminiscences on ecbi@20: Looking back. John Simpson CBE, BBC News World Affairs Editor, delivered the after dinner address, which he very kindly summarised for this news item as follows: “Professor Benito Müller and his  co-hort are doing some of the most important work on the planet. It is important that they remember that and keep on bringing real passion to their work and never allow it to just be hum-drum and ordinary, because it is not.”

Following the event, a number of the participants sent expressions of appreciation, such as H.E. Diana Mejía Molina, Minister Plenipotentiary, Director of Economic, Social, and Environmental Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Colombia, who stated: 

“I wish to convey my deepest appreciation for the opportunity to participate in this year’s Fellows Colloquium and Seminar. The program was exceptionally well-organized and intellectually enriching, fostering rigorous dialogue and a valuable exchange of perspectives. The breadth and depth of the discussions greatly contributed to advancing understanding of the issues at hand and hopefully will help us to bring solutions into climate negotiations and the incoming COP. The setting of Magdalen College provided an unparalleled environment that fostered closeness, calm, and reflection, greatly enhancing the quality of the exchanges and the sense of community among participants. Please accept my sincere thanks for your dedication and for creating such a stimulating and collegial environment.”