In line with Article 7.2(k) of the Convention, COP 1 adopted, by consensus, financial rules for itself, the secretariat and the Subsidiary Bodies (SBs) (“financial procedures”, contained in Annex I of decision 15/CP.1).  These rules provide for a two-year financial period, of which the first year must be an even numbered year.  This corresponds to the practice in the United Nations at large.  Every two years, the Executive Secretary proposes a programme budget to the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI), setting out the proposed activities and budget of the secretariat for the coming two years.  The SBI considers the proposal and forwards a recommended programme budget to the Conference of the Parties (COP) for its approval.  The COP adopts the budget by consensus. more >>

Patricia Espinosa, the Executive Secretary of the Climate Change Secretariat, has presented to Parties the proposed UNFCCC budget for the biennium 2018-2019. SBI 46 considered the proposal and recommended a budget for approval by COP 23 and CMP 13. The recommended COP and CMP decisions are available in document FCCC/SBI/2017/7/Add.1 on pages 3 and 15 respectively. More information can be found on the 2018-2019 budget page under the Secretariat section of this site.

The COP at its twenty-first session approved the programme budget for the biennium
2016–2017, amounting to EUR 54,648,484 (decision 22/CP.21) and the CMP endorsed the decision as it applies to the Kyoto Protocol (decision 12/CMP.11).

The indicative scale of contributions from Parties to the Convention as contained in the annex to decisions COP 22/CP.21 and the indicative scale of contributions from Parties to the Kyoto Protocol for the biennium 2016–2017 as contained in annex I to decision 12/CMP.11 were revised upon the adoption of the United Nations Scale of Assessments for 2016 2018 by the General Assembly in December 2016. The revised scales for both the Convention and the Kyoto Protocol are available here (217 kB) .

Following the acceptance by the COP ( decision 16/CP.1) of the offer by the Government of Germany of February 1995 to host the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Bonn, Germany ( A/AC.237/Misc.45), the Government of Germany, the United Nations and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change concluded a Headquarters Agreement, which entered into force in October 1997 (FCCC/CP/1996/Misc.1).

Since then, the Subsidiary Body on Implementation (SBI) has regularly reviewed the implementation of the Headquarters Agreement. The Host Government and the Executive Secretary have each reported to the SBI at every session initially and at regular interval later. In addition, since the thirty-sixth session of the SBI (May 2012, Bonn, Germany), the secretariat has kept Parties informed on an on-going basis through the Implementation Updates on the UNFCCC web-site.

The topics considered under this sub-item traditionally include: the legal status and treatment of participants to UNFCCC meetings in Germany; the legal status and treatment of the secretariat, its staff, affiliates and associated family members; the office accommodation of the secretariat; and the provision of a conference centre for use by the United Nations.

In September 2013, about half of the secretariat's staff moved into its new office premises on the United Nations Campus in Bonn. The remaining staff, currently staying in the secretariat's old headquarters five kilometres away, is scheduled to move into a newly built Annex building on the United Nations Campus in 2018.

In June 2015, during the forty-second sessions of the subsidiary bodies, the World Conference Centre Bonn was officially inaugurated. Located immediately adjacent to the United Nations Campus, the World Conference Centre Bonn is designed to meet the standards for United Nations meetings and conferences with up to 5,000 participants.

The SBI last considered the implementation of the Headquarters Agreement at its forty-second session (June 2015, Bonn, Germany). It acknowledged the special efforts and investments by both the Host Government and the host city of Bonn to provide adequate conference facilities to the Parties and office accommodation to the secretariat. It encouraged the Host Government to continue to provide support for the operation of the conference centre as a permanent forum for the intergovernmental process. It requested the secretariat to maximize the combined use of the new office and conference facilities for UNFCCC sessions and meetings in order to reduce costs and further enhance the services available at the seat of the secretariat. It encouraged the Host Government and the secretariat to maintain a process of close and regular consultations.

The SBI will review the implementation of the Headquarters Agreement again at its forty-sixth session (May 2017, Bonn, Germany).