The 31th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP31) will convene in Antalya, Turkey on November 9 and run until November 20, 2026.
Turkey is hosting the summit, working in a joint arrangement with Australia whereby they share the COP31 Presidency. Australia acts as the President of Negotiations with Chris Bowen. Murat Kurum, Turkey’s Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, serves as the COP31 President.
WHO IS ATTENDING?
COP31 will bring together heads of state, climate ministers, and delegates from nearly 200 countries, including Russia and China. The European Union and its member countries are attending COP31 as a unified negotiating bloc. The EU delegation is actively coordinating its policy priorities under the guidance of EU Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra.
Official U.S. government participation at COP31 remains highly uncertain under the current Trump administration. Top U.S. officials did not attend COP30 last year either.
WHAT IS COP31’S GOAL?
The primary goal of COP31 is to transition the global climate process from a phase of high-level promises to concrete execution, earning it the label of the "Implementation COP." The summit focuses on converting previous declarations into funded, measurable projects.
There are three specific Presidential targets:
- Global Electrification: A landmark target to raise electricity's share of global final energy demand from roughly 20% today to 35% by 2035 to accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels.
- Zero Waste & Methane Reduction: A specific goal to halve the growth of global waste by 2035. This relies heavily on a circular economy approach to sharply reduce methane emissions leaking from municipal waste systems.
- Resilient Cities: A commitment to reduce energy consumption intensity in the building sector by at least 25% by 2035 through zero-energy buildings and climate-adaptive urban settlement designs.
And, four major negotiation & policy goals
- Reviewing NDCs 3.0: Countries are tasked with proving real policy compliance and verifying that their latest National Determined Contributions (NDCs)—their national carbon reduction plans—align strictly with keeping global warming below the critical 1.5°C threshold.
- Mobilizing Climate Finance: Ensuring the implementation of the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) by bridging the gap between developing nations requiring climate capital and international financial institutions capable of providing it.
- Green Industrialization: Speeding up the deployment of low-carbon manufacturing and decarbonizing hard-to-abate heavy industries.
- Social & Ecosystem Resilience: Strengthening the climate-water-food nexus, protecting marine ecosystems and blue carbon, and scaling up equitable, climate-resilient health systems globally.
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