The United Nations climate talks, COP31, opened in Antalya, Türkiye, on Monday, 9 November, with representatives from nearly 200 countries gathering for two weeks of negotiations that run until 20 November.
The opening ceremony was delayed by an hour without explanation, after negotiators were locked in discussions late on Sunday over demands by developing nations to include climate finance items on 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, provide financial support to help developing nations adapt to climate impacts and switch to cleaner energy. Poorer countries say the sums remain insufficient, and are pushing for the agenda to include a platform agreed at COP30 in Brazil in 2025 for discussing how wealthy nations should provide funds. African countries are also pressing for the agenda to include tripling adaptation finance, to help poorer nations pay for measures such as building sea walls and 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.
Türkiye is presiding over COP31, with Australia leading the negotiations under an unusual arrangement that settled a dispute over who would host the conference. The partners have branded the summit the “implementation COP”, focused on turning commitments into concrete action.
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. The European Union has called for “clean” electrification, a term that could spark debate over the role of fossil fuels in the Turkish proposal.
The talks open after a year of extreme weather. Heatwaves baked Europe, wildfires raged in Indonesia, and a glacier collapse triggered devastating floods in Nepal in 2026. An exceptionally strong El Niño is forecast to peak later in the year, and the UN warned in September that global temperatures were on course to exceed 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, breaching the most ambitious threshold of the Paris Agreement.
The United States is absent from the summit: President Donald Trump pulled the US out of the Paris Agreement and has not sent officials to COP31, although a US congressional delegation is expected to attend. A World Leaders Summit is scheduled for 11 and 12 November.
Source: The Straits Times (AFP) — https://www.straitstimes.com/world/climate-clash-clouds-cop31-opening-as-rich-nations-buck-calls-for-more-funding?ref=latest
