Charles III Warns COP31 Leaders Climate Change Is Escalating, Urges Action in Antalya

COP31 opens in Antalya

Charles III sent a letter to delegations taking part in the Leaders Summit within COP31, the thirty-first session of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, held in Antalya, southern Turkey. Charles III thanked President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, his government, and the Turkish people, and he also thanked the Australian government for its role in chairing the negotiations. Charles III warned that communities around the world are experiencing heatwaves, floods, droughts, wildfires, and storms, and he said recent events show climate change is no longer a distant threat but a present and escalating reality.

Charles III told summit participants, "I invite you and all those gathered in Antalya to approach this milestone not only with ambitious goals but also with the resolve to turn those goals into actions, for this should be the legacy of COP31." Charles III concluded, "Our children and grandchildren will judge us not by the promises we made, but by the actions we chose to take."

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Guterres presses climate justice

UN Secretary-General António Guterres urged governments at COP31 to create a new global climate justice agreement and he called for taxing fossil fuel companies to help countries bearing the brunt of a crisis they contributed little to causing.

Guterres warned that the climate crisis is advancing faster than efforts to curb it, and he said, "The planet is warming. The clock is ticking. This is the moment of truth: either we act or we burn,".

Guterres proposed a climate justice pact that would help developing countries leave fossil fuels and protect those already suffering from climate change, and he said, "We cannot demand that countries transform their economies while denying them the means to do so."

Guterres climate justice pact2 of 7 outlets reported it · not in ABC News & Headlines – Australian Broadcasting Corporation and 4 more▾

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan acknowledged that three decades of negotiations had not produced sufficient results, and he said, "This level-of-ideas success has not produced the same results when it comes to implementing them,".

Lula da Silva warned that climate change is being pushed off the agenda as wars and trade disputes eclipse it, and he said, "We are starting to talk more about weapons and tariffs than about the survival of future generations,".

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Finance, electrification, and access

African leaders at COP31 urged developed countries to deliver on climate finance commitments and warned that vulnerable nations cannot shoulder the growing costs of the climate crisis alone.

Cote d’Ivoire’s Vice President Tiemoko Meyliet Kone said, "When the seasons become uncertain, it is the harvests that are jeopardised. It is incomes that disappear, and entire families who see their future threatened,".

Rwanda’s Prime Minister Justin Nsengiyumva said Rwanda’s third national climate plan targets a 53 percent reduction in emissions by 2035 compared with business-as-usual projections, and he said implementing the plan requires $12 billion in investment and substantial international support.

Australia’s Climate and Energy Minister Chris Bowen argued that Türkiye had set out an "ambitious" target, and he said, "The world has no chance of holding to 1.5 degrees unless we lift that to 35 per cent."

The COP31 press desk restricted accredited media access to the Leaders’ Summit, and it said approximately 20 journalists selected on the basis of geographical representation would be admitted, alongside journalists and photographers accompanying leaders.

Press access restricted2 of 7 outlets reported it · not in ABC News & Headlines – Australian Broadcasting Corporation and 4 more▾

Reporting for this sectionTRT WorldBianet