COP31 is co-hosted by Turkey and Australia.
Palau President Cites War Footing
Delegates at the annual summit said geopolitical conflicts have diverted attention and resources away from global heating. Leaders of vulnerable island nations described catastrophic damage to their homes and communities as temperatures rise.
“You might as well bomb us. A war no peace treaty can end, only urgent action can,” said Surangel Whipps Jr, president of the island nation of Palau.
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“protect our shores, sustain our fisheries, feed our families and carry the stories and traditions of our communities” Micronesian President Wesley Simina said his country is already suffering irreversible losses of coral reefs.
The summit follows a year marked by deadly floods, extreme heat waves, and other climate-fuelled disasters. The UN stated earlier this year that the world will inevitably warm beyond 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, a core threshold established under the 2015 Paris Agreement.
Methane Reductions Could Limit Temperature Overshoot
Negotiators are now focusing on limiting the duration and scale of that temperature overshoot before bringing global temperatures back below the threshold by the end of the century.
Mottley said that even if every pledge is delivered, the world is heading for 2.6 degrees, and on current policies, 2.8 degrees is where it will end up, describing overshoot as a debt of heat borrowed against children’s future that must be repaid.
Cutting methane by roughly half by 2030 could prevent nearly 0.3 degrees of warming by the 2040s and save 250,000 lives annually.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres outlined a negotiation framework prioritizing fossil fuel reduction, adaptation support for poorer nations, and international cooperation.
Delivering one of the last speeches he will give as secretary general before standing down the following month, “We know the truth. Now we must act on it because climate action is more than a fight over a number or a thermometer,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said, stating that fossil fuels must go the way of the dinosaurs and urging countries to cooperate on things no country can solve alone, warning that the clock is winding down and it is make or bake time.
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Absence of Major Polluters
More than 70 world leaders and senior officials attended the summit in Antalya. However, the top leaders of the world’s three largest polluting nations—China, the United States, and India—skipped the event.
The absence of these key economies left civil society groups critical of global leadership. The United States skipped the talks for the second consecutive year under President Donald Trump.
Electricity Supplies Remain Low Despite Efficiency Benefits
Currently, only 23% of global final energy demand comes from electricity, while electric technologies are more efficient than fossil-fuelled equivalents, with the International Energy Agency projecting electricity will supply just under 30% of final energy by 2035 under existing global climate policies.
Other leaders added their voices at the gathering, with North Macedonia President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova stating that they are the first generation to fully understand the consequences of their choices and perhaps the last with time to change course, while Slovenia President Nataša Pirc Musar asked what is left to unite people if human dignity and respect for nature cannot be placed at the heart of decisions.
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