COP31 opens in Antalya as nations dispute climate finance

The COP31 UN climate talks opened in Antalya, Turkey, on Monday with an early fight over money and a warning from UN Secretary-General António Guterres that countries have entered "a new age of climate extremes".

The opening ceremony began an hour and a half late without explanation, according to CNA. Negotiators had been locked in discussions late on Sunday over demands by developing nations to put climate finance items on the official agenda. A source familiar with the talks told CNA that the "climate finance work programme" would be included in the agenda. The same source said there would be no separate agenda point on tripling adaptation finance, a demand pushed by African countries, and that it would be discussed under other items.

Guterres said leaders should "get serious by cutting emissions faster, accelerating a just transition from fossil fuels and delivering the finance and protection vulnerable countries need". The summit follows a year of punishing heatwaves in Europe, major wildfires in Indonesia and catastrophic floods in Nepal, with an exceptionally strong El Nino weather phenomenon fuelling more climate chaos, CNA reported. The United Nations warned in September that global temperatures were on course to exceed 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, breaching the most ambitious threshold set by the Paris Agreement.

Jasper Inventor, head of Greenpeace's COP31 delegation, said: "This has already been a difficult start for COP31." He said developed countries took a "hard line" over whether to include a platform agreed at COP30 in Brazil last year to discuss how wealthy nations should provide funds to developing nations. A senior European Union official warned last week that there would be "no political will" for extra funding pledges at COP31, CNA reported.

Turkey is presiding over COP31, with Australia leading negotiations under an unusual arrangement that settled a dispute over who would host the conference. COP31 President Murat Kurum, who is also Turkey's environment minister, and Australian Climate Minister Chris Bowen raised their clasped hands above their heads to applause during the opening ceremony. The partners have branded the summit the "implementation COP", focusing on turning commitments into concrete action. "We know that delay carries one of the heaviest costs in climate action," Kurum said.

Turkey is inviting countries to join a voluntary "electrification" pledge to raise the share of global energy demand met by electricity from around 20 per cent today to 35 per cent by 2035. The European Union has called for "clean" electrification, a term that could spark debate over the role of oil, gas and coal in the Turkish proposal. Countries committed to transition away from fossil fuels in a pact at COP28 in Dubai in 2023 but have struggled to agree on how to turn that pledge into action. COP30 ended with a deal that made no explicit mention of fossil fuels after oil-producing countries opposed the language. Instead, Brazil produced a voluntary "roadmap" with proposals for phasing out fossil fuels that each country can tailor to their circumstances.

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was due to arrive late on Monday after a re-election win. US President Donald Trump, a climate sceptic, has not sent officials to COP31. A US congressional delegation will come to Antalya, with Democrats celebrating after last week's US midterm election win, CNA reported.