Antalya (Turkey) (AFP) – With delay and the first disagreements, the COP31 climate conference started this Monday in the Turkish city of Antalya with a call from the UN to "get serious" after a year of devastating meteorological phenomena.

First modification: 11/09/2026 - 09:09 Last modification: 11/09/2026 - 10:55

The heat waves in Europe, the large fires in Indonesia or the disaster in Nepal due to the collapse of a glacier highlighted the risks of global warming, now intensified by the powerful El Niño phenomenon.

Climate indicators are now "out of the ordinary," warned the head of the World Meteorological Organization, Celeste Saulo, when publishing a report that warns of warming very close to the limit of +1.5 ºC set in the Paris Agreement.

"We have entered a new era of climate extremes," UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement released before the opening.

"Leaders must get serious by cutting emissions faster, accelerating a just transition away from fossil fuels, and delivering the financing and protection vulnerable countries need," he said.

But, despite this, the annual UN summit started without too many expectations and with disagreements before even starting over the inclusion of climate financing on the official agenda.

The opening ceremony in this Mediterranean city was delayed almost an hour and a half, with no official explanation given.

"This has already been a difficult start to COP31," said Jasper Inventor, head of the Greenpeace delegation to the summit.

The day before, the delegations discussed until late about including the issue of climate financing on the agenda, which was already anticipated as one of the major disputes in Antalya.

Until November 20, the Turkish city will host nearly 100,000 people, delegations from almost 200 countries and heads of state such as the Brazilian Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva or the Venezuelan Delcy Rodríguez.

There will be, as expected, no representative of Donald Trump's administration, although the United States is the world's second largest emitter of greenhouse gases after China.

Financing

Under UN agreements, developed countries must financially help developing nations adapt to the impacts of climate change and transition to clean energy.

At the previous COP30 in Brazil, "efforts" were requested to triple this financing between now and 2035.

African countries pushed to include this objective on the discussion agenda. According to sources familiar with the negotiation, there will not be a specific point for this issue, although it may be addressed under other topics.

On the other hand, a mechanism decided also in Brazil to discuss how rich countries should finance developing nations will appear on the agenda.

Currently, the damage and loss fund, agreed upon in 2022 to help the most vulnerable countries cover what was destroyed by climate change, has about 474 million dollars, well below the 2.8 billion requested.

Also up in the air is the commitment made by developed countries at the COP29 in Baku, in 2024, to mobilize at least 300 billion dollars per year by 2035 in favor of the countries of the South.

Realism

In the Antalya exhibition park, few expect great progress in this event, which according to several sources would be limited to transforming the commitments made in previous editions into concrete actions.

Türkiye, which will lead the meeting in a two-headed manner with Australia, in charge of piloting the negotiations, will promote an agenda of voluntary commitments.

The main one is to promote greater electrification of transport, industry and construction, so that by 2035 electricity reaches a share of 35% in global energy consumption, compared to the current 23%.

The initiative, attractive at a time of crisis in the oil market due to the war in the Middle East, may become an object of contention.

The EU and numerous NGOs advocate clean electrification from renewable sources, leaving out coal, gas and oil.

Hydrocarbon-producing countries will be more reluctant to do so.

In 2025, at the COP30 in Belém, Brazil, they already managed to ensure that the final decision did not mention the exit from fossil fuels, as happened two years before, in Dubai.

In exchange, the Brazilian presidency worked on a roadmap presented last week in which measures are recommended so that each country, based on its circumstances, begins to abandon fossil fuels.

© 2026 AFP

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