US congressional delegation to attend COP31 in Antalya
Nineteen lawmakers will join the UN summit despite Washington's withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, as African negotiators push for climate finance.
Nineteen members of the United States Congress will travel to the Turkish city of Antalya for the COP31 UN climate summit, which runs from 9 to 20 November, the delegation's leader said on Wednesday, a day after Democrats won a landslide in the US midterm elections.
The United States is not taking part in the negotiations. President Donald Trump withdrew the country from the Paris Agreement for a second time after returning to office, so the federal government will have no seat at the table.
Representative Sean Casten, an Illinois Democrat, said the delegation would still serve an "important diplomatic function". "We will not, of course, be in the majority at that point, but we will be received with the understanding of what just happened," he told a press call, according to Euronews.
The delegation is organised 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". State and local US leaders will also attend under the "America is All In" coalition.
Casten said he was not naive about the US record, noting that Washington never ratified the 1997 Kyoto Protocol and has left Paris twice under Trump. He argued the delegation could still tell the world "that America has spoken" and that "so many of the challenges we face are the same", citing climate refugees, financial volatility linked to climate change and the need to decarbonise economies, especially given the Iran war.
At home, Trump has threatened to use his veto, raising questions about what Democrats can achieve even with control of both the House and Senate. Casten said Trump's tariffs, which make solar panels and electric vehicles more expensive, and the Iran war, which is spiking gasoline prices, were "the two biggest drivers of inflation right now". He said Republican backing for some past environmental measures, including emissions trading and protecting the ozone layer, left him "cautiously optimistic that the margins will open up some opportunities".
African negotiators arrive with a different priority. AllAfrica reported that the continent's delegates see the real contest in Antalya as one over money, minerals and who profits from the energy transition, and that they must first secure the right to discuss climate finance before they can argue over it. Climate Home News said COP31 must deliver finance for Africa "or there will be no implementation". The International Bar Association said the talks are set to focus on climate finance and a fossil fuel phase-out.
How the reports differ
Euronews led with the US delegation and the domestic politics around it: the midterm result, Trump's veto threat, tariffs and the Iran war. AllAfrica framed COP31 around African negotiators fighting for climate finance and control of the continent's minerals, and said they must first win the right to discuss finance at all. Climate Home News carried the same demand in its headline, that the summit must deliver finance for Africa or there will be no implementation. The International Bar Association, alone among the four, named a fossil fuel phase-out as a focus of the talks.
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