UN chief urges leaders to ‘get serious’ as COP31 set to open
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UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged leaders at the COP31 climate conference in Turkey to “get serious” by cutting emissions faster.
PHOTO: REUTERS
- UN chief Antonio Guterres urged leaders to “get serious” on climate change as COP31 opened in Antalya, with talks already delayed by a fight over climate finance.
- Developing and African countries want more money for adaptation and cleaner energy, but richer nations face pressure and there is little hope of major new pledges.
- The summit will focus on turning promises into action, but tensions remain over fossil fuels, “clean” electrification, and the absence of US officials under President Donald Trump.
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Antalya, Turkey - United Nations (UN) chief Antonio Guterres urged world leaders on Nov 9 to “get serious” about tackling climate change as the COP31 conference was set to open with negotiators already tangled in an early fight over money.
Guterres made his plea as thousands of participants descended on a sprawling expo centre in the Turkish Mediterranean city of Antalya for the UN’s annual climate talks.
The summit comes after a year of punishing heatwaves in Europe, major wildfires in Indonesia and catastrophic floods in Nepal, with an exceptionally strong El Nino weather phenomenon fuelling more climate chaos.
“We have entered a new age of climate extremes,” Guterres said in a statement.
He urged leaders to “get serious by cutting emissions faster, accelerating a just transition from fossil fuels and delivering the finance and protection vulnerable countries need”.
But the COP31 opening ceremony was delayed by an hour without explanation.
Negotiators had been locked in discussions late on Nov 8 over demands by developing nations to include items on climate finance in the official agenda.
“This has already been a difficult start for COP31,” said Jasper Inventor, head of Greenpeace’s COP31 delegation.
Under UN climate agreements, developed countries, which are historically responsible for most greenhouse gas emissions, have provided financial support to help developing nations adapt to climate impacts and transition to cleaner energy. But poorer countries say the sums remain insufficient.
Inventor said developed countries were “taking a hard line” over whether to include a platform, agreed at COP30 in Brazil in 2025, aimed at discussing how wealthy nations should provide funds to developing nations.
African countries are also pushing for the agenda to include discussions on the tripling of adaptation finance, which aims to help poorer nations pay for measures such as building sea walls or planting drought-resistant crops.
A senior European Union official warned last week that there would be “no political will” for extra funding pledges at COP31.
Observers say few major breakthroughs are expected at COP31 as countries grapple with an oil price shock and geopolitical tensions fuelled by the United States’ war with Iran and Russia’s conflict in Ukraine.
Hottest year?
As negotiators tussled in Antalya, the UN’s World Meteorological Organization released a report indicating that 2026 has continued a streak of exceptional global temperatures, melting ice and rising sea levels.
The EU’s climate monitor warned last week that 2026 would most likely be the second-hottest year ever recorded while scientists say 2027 could top the chart, fuelled by El Nino.
The long-term outlook is bleak: the UN warned in September that global temperatures were on course to exceed 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, breaching the most ambitious threshold set by the Paris Agreement.
“Global leaders must pull us back from the brink and commit to rapidly transitioning away from fossil fuels and expanding renewable energy, an imperative reinforced by the current energy affordability crisis,” said Rachel Cleetus, climate programme director at the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Fossil fuel fight
Turkey is presiding over COP31, with Australia leading negotiations under an unusual arrangement that settled a dispute over who would host the conference.
The partners have branded the summit as the “implementation COP”, focusing on turning commitments into concrete action after years of pledges and ambitious announcements.
Turkey is promoting an “action agenda” alongside the formal negotiations that encourages countries to support non-binding pledges on issues from artificial intelligence to waste management.
Its centrepiece is an “electrification” drive to raise the share of global energy demand met by electricity from around 20% today to 35% by 2035.
But the initiative could become a source of friction.
The European Union has called for “clean” electrification, a term that could spark debate over the role of fossil fuels in the Turkish proposal.
Countries committed to transition away from fossil fuels in a landmark pact at COP28 in Dubai in 2023 but have struggled to agree on how to turn that pledge into action.
COP30 ended with a deal that made no explicit mention of fossil fuels after oil-producing countries opposed the language.
Instead, Brazil produced a voluntary “roadmap” with proposals for phasing out fossil fuels that each country can tailor to their circumstances.
Climate diplomacy is still missing a major player as climate-sceptic President Donald Trump has not sent officials to COP31.
A US congressional delegation, however, will come to Antalya, with Democrats beaming after last week’s historic US midterm election win. AFP