COP31: Turkey and Australia, two coal-dependent countries, lead the world's most important climate summit

The Kemerköy coal-fired power plant, near Ikizköy in the Milas district of Turkey, October 30, 2026. OZAN KOSE/AFP It is an unprecedented arrangement in the history of the United Nations climate conferences, known as COPs: For the first time, two countries are jointly steering the global summit, which opened on Monday, November 9, in the Turkish resort city of Antalya. Turkey is hosting COP31 and will coordinate all voluntary commitments and initiatives launched at the event, while Australia will lead the official negotiations.

Neither country was willing to withdraw its bid to host the major annual climate gathering, so this arrangement was crafted to resolve a standoff that lasted more than a year. "It's a bit like a forced marriage," summed up Lola Vallejo, director of diplomacy and partnerships at the European Climate Foundation. In recent months, Turkish environment minister Murat Kurum and Australian energy and climate change minister Chris Bowen jointly published two open letters and appeared together at the Pacific pre-COP meeting in early October.

The effectiveness of this duo will be tested in practice over the coming two weeks. "Will this division of labor really work out? There are signs that Turkey also wants to exert influence over the negotiations," noted Gaïa Febvre, head of international policy at the French branch of the Climate Action Network. You have 81.29% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.