‘More than just a photo opportunity’: Why are key EU leaders skipping the COP31 Leaders’ Summit?

EU and world leaders will meet today at the UN climate summit in Antalya - but a few key figures will be missing from the negotiating table.

The Leaders’ Summit is held at the beginning of the annual COP (Conference of the Parties) and is the first high-level gathering of the summit. Leaders have one-to-one meetings to discuss the positions they will take during the negotiations, which stretch into next week, and sometimes form coalitions.Germany’s Chancellor Merz, France’s President Macron, Italy’s Prime Minister Meloni, and Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez are all said to be missing the Leaders’ Summit, which spans today and tomorrow.

Sánchez has been particularly outspoken on the climate crisis and its effects, often after extreme weather in Spain.Criticising the absences, Chiara Martinelli, Director of Climate Action Network Europe, says the absent leaders are “missing more than just a photo opportunity. Their absence will not stop the negotiations, but it puts even more responsibility on the ministers and negotiators who are here to show that Europe and other developed countries are serious about delivery.”

Nine countries in the European Union are on track to fall short of their emissions-cutting targets for 2030, Brussels said this week.What will the focus of COP31 be?At the Leaders’ Summit, heads of state pose for a ‘family photo’ and make speeches setting out their countries’ climate priorities, announcing commitments and, often, putting pressure on other countries to act. While leaders have not given their reasons for not attending, competing priorities in their home countries or abroad are likely to make scheduling difficult.

This year’s COP is hosted by Türkiye and Australia. While they can state what they think the negotiations should be focussed on, it is the countries present who agree the agenda. Türkiye’s environment and climate change minister, Murat Kurum, who will preside over the summit, has said he wants COP31 to focus on turning climate commitments into action rather than new targets.Electrification and waste reduction are set to be key focus points, with many EU countries expected to advocate for the role of renewables and the transition away from fossil fuels.“If top leaders want influence over where the global transition is going, showing up is a pretty good place to start,” says Martinelli.Will Trump be at COP31?Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Denmark, Ireland and the Netherlands will all be missing from the Leaders’ Summit.

They are represented at the wider conference, however, by negotiators and government officials, who will shape the written deal which is the denouement of all COPs. Agreed on after days of tense negotiations, this final text sets out how countries will coordinate climate action, assess progress, hold one another accountable and implement the Paris Agreement which came out of COP21 in 2015.The EU will be represented in an official capacity by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen who will give a speech today.No one from the US government will be present at the COP for the second year running, since President Donald Trump withdrew his country from the negotiations after calling climate change a “hoax”.

However following the Democrats victory in last week’s midterm elections, a delegation of 19 congress members made the last minute decision to attend COP31. The group is led by the Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition (SEEC) Institute, a nonpartisan think tank. It said members would meet policymakers, civil society groups and business leaders to "explore opportunities for renewed US engagement on climate, energy, and economic policy".Which European countries are failing to meet their climate targets?In a report issued on the sidelines of COP31, the European Commission assessed EU members’ progress on their national plans to reduce greenhouse gases.It found Italy, Croatia and Cyprus had already exceeded their emissions targets for the 2021-2025 period, while Austria, Germany, Ireland, Lithuania, Malta and Sweden risked failing to meet their 2030 targets.

The European Commission said it would request the nine offenders “each submit a corrective action plan to accelerate the implementation and development of emission reduction measures and investments”.European Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra will write to all nine countries asking them to submit plans within three months to get back on track, the Commission said.Overall, the EU’s net greenhouse gas emissions fell by 1.6 per cent last year from 2024, according to the provisional figures released by Brussels.

The 27-nation bloc’s emissions are now 39 per cent below 1990 levels.

The EU has set a target of slashing emissions by 90 per cent by 2040 and reaching net-zero emissions by 2050. But environmental groups accuse the EU of backsliding over the past two years by repeatedly softening climate regulations for companies.