The UN climate conference COP31 opened in Antalya on Monday, with Türkiye’s Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change Minister Murat Kurum, who presides over the summit, telling delegates that the time for promises was over. Anadolu Agency (AA), TRT Haber and NTV quoted him as saying the world was sending a very clear message: "We are at zero point." He added that "words have run out."
The conference runs from 9 to 20 November at the COP31 venue on the former EXPO site in Aksu. Türkiye hosts the summit, while Australia’s Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen leads the negotiations, Reuters and the German agency dpa reported. NTV and DHA said 102 leaders are expected: representatives of 95 countries and 7 international organisations.
Update, 9 November, 14:10: The United States is not taking part in COP31 with an official delegation. The US State Department told NPR by email that the US will not send a delegation to the Antalya conference, and Reuters reported that the Trump administration is staying away from the UN climate talks for the second year running. NPR noted that the US also sent no one to last year’s COP in Brazil, but that some US lawmakers, including Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, will attend. (Sources: NPR, Reuters via Daily Maverick.)
Kurum: an "Implementation COP"
According to AA, TRT Haber and NTV, Kurum said Türkiye wants COP31 to be an "Implementation COP", built on dialogue, consensus and action. He warned that one of the most expensive bills in climate action is delay, and that falling water supplies in one country affect other countries’ economies, migration and security. A drought that starts in one place, he said, ends up on dinner tables somewhere else.
AA and TRT Haber reported that Kurum presented a "35 by 35" Global Electrification Pledge, which aims to raise electricity’s share of final energy consumption to 35% by 2035. Reuters also reported that the Turkish presidency wants countries to sign an electrification pledge for 2035.
Kurum also described a "Climate Implementation Bridge", which, according to the same two outlets, is meant to bring funding to where it is needed and to match countries’ needs with investors and technology providers. He said the goal of limiting warming to 1.5°C still guides the talks. He recalled the agreement reached at COP29 in Baku on at least $300 billion a year in climate finance for developing countries by 2035, and the call to raise public and private funding to at least $1.3 trillion a year.
He said Türkiye has always been a bridge and is ready to help bring the positions of developed and developing countries together. He closed by calling on delegates to work in the spirit of imece, the Turkish village tradition of neighbours sharing a heavy job.
Stiell and Bowen: move faster
UN climate chief Simon Stiell said progress was "nowhere near fast or fair enough", dpa reported; Reuters, citing his prepared remarks, also said he described progress as falling far short. Bowen told delegates that "Paris is working, but we must move faster," according to both agencies.
What comes next in Antalya
The first day focuses on food, agriculture and health. The Leaders Summit takes place on 11 and 12 November, with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and UN Secretary-General António Guterres expected at its opening on 11 November.
The road known as Liderler Yolu will be closed from 07:30 to 12:00 on 11 November, and service vehicles are banned from the D-400 highway from 10 to 12 November. See our reports on COP31 traffic restrictions in Antalya and on remote learning in seven districts on 11 and 12 November. For more on the city, see our guide to living in Antalya.
Sources
- Bakan Kurum: İklim politikası insanın geleceğini koruma politikasıdır (AA)
- Bakan Kurum: Dünya bize çok açık bir şey söylüyor; sıfır noktasındayız (TRT Haber)
- COP31 Antalya’da başladı. Bakan Kurum: "Bugüne hazırlanmak için büyük mücadele verdik" (NTV)
- COP31 summit leaders urge world to ‘move faster’ on climate (Reuters via Daily Maverick)
- Hosts demand faster progress as COP31 climate summit begins in Turkey (dpa via Yahoo)
- COP31 iklim zirvesi başladı (Sözcü)
Photo: Hendric Stattmann / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
