2026 United Nations Climate Change Conference
31st UN climate conference
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Through Australia and Greenpeace
Planning
Australia and Turkey had both made bids to host COP31. United Nations rules require a global consensus on a host country; if no agreement had been reached, it would have automatically been hosted in Bonn as the headquarters of the agency that oversees the Paris Agreement. Australia's Albanese government had prioritised hosting the conference, which it planned to host in Adelaide, and campaigned for its bid over three years. Representatives of both countries negotiated during COP30 as neither would withdraw their bid, although neither Recep Tayyip Erdoğan nor Anthony Albanese attended. After a week of negotiations in November 2025, Turkey and Australia compromised by allowing Turkey to host, while Australian Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen will preside over negotiations.
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Organisation and key people
In advance of COP31 in Antalya, there will be a pre-COP meeting in Fiji from 5–8 October including a leaders' event in Tuvalu to enable world leaders "to see Pacific climate destruction" in advance. During COP31, heads of states will attend a World Leaders' Summit in Antalya on November 11 and 12. The summit will take place on day three and four for the conference, in contrast to summits at previous COPs held on the first two days or immediately prior to the COP.
Murat Kurum, the Turkish Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change will serve as the COP President. Halil Hasar, the Head of Climate Change at that Ministry and first lady Emine Erdoğan may be prominent. Minister for Climate Change and Energy for Australia Chris Bowen will be Vice-President and President of Negotiations. Although Australia chairs the formal negotiations Turkey is responsible for the Action Agenda. Turkey's Chief Climate Negotiator is Fatma Varank.
Samed Ağırbaş, President of the Zero Waste Foundation, will serve as Climate High-Level Champion for COP31. Working alongside the High-Level Champion for COP30, Ağırbaş' role focuses on mobilizing ambitious climate action from businesses, financial institutions, cities, regions, civil society and communities to support governments in achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement.
Non-government participation
Greenpeace said that coal subsidies in Turkey are a waste of money, greenhouse gas emissions by Turkey should be reduced, and called for a just transition to stop burning coal, strong adaptation policies and civil society participation. Academic İbrahim Özdemir has called for universities, civil society organizations, and climate activists to be given a "meeting and contribution platform". The location was agreed a year beforehand, but at that time the UNFCCC secretariat was saying that admitting organizations to observe these climate change conferences would take longer than that due to lack of resources. However some non-governmental organisations in Turkey, such as nature conservation organization Yolda and the Turkish Foundation for Combating Soil Erosion can nominate people to observe as they have been admitted to previous such conferences. NGOs have criticised the proposed expansion of the coal-fired Cenal power station, and the Environment and Climate Change Ministry supports coal power.