MEDIA ADVISORY

13th April 2025 – Lilongwe, Malawi – Malawi, in its role as Chair of the Least Developed Countries (LDC) Group on Climate Change, will host a two-day strategy meeting from 15 to 16 April 2025 at Sunbird Mount Soche Hotel in Blantyre. The meeting will bring together climate negotiators, thematic leads, and government officials from across the LDCs to review progress, address key concerns, and coordinate LDCs approach ahead of crucial international climate change negotiations.

This will be the first major gathering of the LDC Group since the COP29 in Baku, taking place at the challenging time amid evolving geopolitics. It also marks the first meeting following the official declaration that the 1.5°C threshold has been breached in a calendar year target the group has long championed as a matter of survival. The meeting aims to reflect on the outcome of COP29 and lay out strategies to ensure the needs of vulnerable nations are fully addressed at COP30.The meeting will also serve as a preparation for the upcoming 62nd sessions of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice and the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SB62) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), scheduled to take place in June 2025 in Bonn, Germany.

The group will deliberate on how to access the US$300 billion in annual climate finance pledged by 2035 and explore modalities for finalising the roadmap to mobilise US$1.3 trillion in climate funding. Further, the meeting will also discuss unlocking timely and effective support from the newly operational Fund for responding to Loss and Damage. Delegates will also reflect on the need for more ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions in line with 1.5°C pathways and informed by the outcomes of the Global Stocktake. Furthermore, the meeting will advance work on refining indicators and finalising the framework to track progress towards the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA).

Evans Njewa, Chair of the LDC Group, underlined the urgency of the meeting: “This meeting gives the LDCs a chance to regroup after COP29 and ensure our priorities are synchronised and clear ahead of COP30. As the impacts of climate change grow more severe, especially for our countries, we must push for real action, secure the finance that has been promised to us, and ensure that our people have access to adaptation support and clean energy solutions and keep delivering on the ambition to achieve 1.5°C compatible and climate-resilient pathway.

These outcomes will be further refined following the SB62 sessions and presented to ministers during the LDC Ministerial Meeting ahead of COP30. As the climate crisis deepens, the world must respond with urgency—not in a business-as-usual manner , but as a matter of justice, equity, and collective responsibility.

For media inquiries, please contact the LDC Group Press Office:

Email: media@ldcclimate.org | Mathews Malata: +265(0)999646114

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About the LDC Group:

The Least Developed Countries (LDCs) Group consists of 45 nations spanning Africa, the Asia-Pacific, and the Caribbean, representing over one billion people. These countries, highly susceptible to environmental and economic shocks and disproportionately impacted by the climate crisis, come together as a united bloc at UN climate talks. Their collective aim is to advance a fair and ambitious global response to climate change, addressing shared vulnerabilities and striving for equitable solutions.

Evans Njewa is the current Chair of the Least Developed Countries (LDC) Group on Climate Change. He also serves as the Deputy Director for Climate Change and Head of the Climate Change Management Division, as well as the Alternate UNFCCC Focal Point in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Climate Change in Malawi.