Türkiye to host COP31 in Antalya with focus on implementation

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Wednesday that Türkiye will host the 31st UN Climate Change Conference in the Mediterranean resort city of Antalya from Nov. 9-20 next year, vowing that the summit will prioritize the translation of international climate decisions into concrete action while respecting economic disparities among nations.

Antalya hosting

Speaking at a high-level climate meeting convened by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, Erdogan confirmed the dates for the much-anticipated gathering. "Last year, you will remember, I stated here that Türkiye was bidding to host COP31. This year, we will hold COP31 in Antalya from Nov. 9-20, 2026," he said. The Turkish leader also outlined preparatory meetings in the Pacific, stating that Pre-COP events in Fiji and a leaders' summit in Tuvalu would amplify the voices of island nations facing existential climate threats.

Implementation focus

Erdogan emphasized that the Antalya conference must bridge the divide between climate ambition and real-world capability after years of target-setting. "We must achieve much more in Antalya," he said, adding that the gathering should "bring ambition and capability, and targets and implementation, closer together." He noted that while the Paris Agreement's first decade established common benchmarks, last year's summit in Belem laid groundwork for the second decade, which requires tangible progress rather than renewed commitments alone.

Equity and financing

The president warned that climate policies ignoring national social and economic circumstances would fail, stressing that persistent global inequalities prevent uniform progress. "Any proposal that we cannot reconcile with our climate targets and social and economic realities will be doomed to failure," Erdogan said. He added that expecting all nations to advance at identical speeds remains unrealistic while disparities in financing and technology access persist, arguing that lasting climate action requires linking environmental goals directly to development and prosperity.

Guterres convened the high-level meeting to accelerate the renewable energy transition, mobilize affordable financing for developing countries, and strengthen adaptation measures amid intensifying climate risks. Erdogan pointed to recent catastrophic floods in Nepal, adding that they had demonstrated "in the most painful way" that there is no time to lose. "The last 11 years have been the hottest period on record," he said.