Turkiye to host COP31 climate summit after Australia concedes bid

Australia’s PM says it reaches statement to big pre-meetings with Pacific nations portion Turkiye volition big main summit.

Turkiye volition big adjacent year’s COP31 acme successful the metropolis of Antalya, ending a agelong standoff with Australia implicit the determination of the apical United Nations clime meeting.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced connected Thursday greeting that Australia had reached an statement with Turkiye to big negotiations successful the lead-up to the 2026 UN clime gathering on with Pacific nations portion Turkiye volition presume the presidency of the authoritative meeting.

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“What we’ve travel up with is simply a large triumph for some Australia and [Turkiye],” Albanese told the Australian nationalist broadcaster ABC Radio Perth.

The announcement comes arsenic this year’s COP30 clime summit successful the Brazilian metropolis of Belem is owed to adjacent connected Friday.

Australia had been pushing to big COP31 adjacent twelvemonth arsenic a “Pacific COP” alongside low-lying South Pacific nations, which are progressively threatened by rising seas and climate-fuelled disasters.

Despite Australia’s efforts, Turkiye refused to backmost down successful its bid to big the summit.

Turkiye had said that arsenic an emerging economy, it would beforehand solidarity betwixt affluent and mediocre countries astatine its summit, which would person a much planetary alternatively than determination focus.

Turkiye volition present person conscionable 12 months to program the gathering astatine the Antalya Expo Center owed to the unusually agelong process to unafraid hosting duties and the deficiency of procedures successful spot to grip a concern successful which 2 countries wanted to big astatine the aforesaid time.

The presidency of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UN Framework Convention connected Climate Change traditionally rotates among 5 regions: Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, Central and Eastern Europe, and Western Europe and others.

Australia and Turkiye some acceptable wrong the second class of Western Europe and others, meaning that Australia volition present person to hold different 5 years until it tin bid to big the gathering again.

Ethiopian Minister for Planning and Development Fitsum Assefa Adela announced past week that her state had already secured the enactment of African negotiators to big COP32 successful 2027.

‘Disappointed it’s ended up similar this’

Papua New Guinea (PNG) rapidly voiced vexation with Australia for dropping its bid to cohost the COP with its Pacific land neighbours.

“We are each not blessed and disappointed it’s ended up similar this,” PNG Foreign Minister Justin Tkatchenko told the AFP quality agency.

“What has COP achieved implicit the years? Nothing,” Tkatchenko said. “It’s conscionable a speech fest and doesn’t clasp the large polluters accountable.”

Australian Senator Steph Hodgins-May from the Australian Greens enactment said Australia’s withdrawal from hosting the gathering reflected the existent Labor government’s “continued ember and state approvals” arsenic Australia continues to summation its exports of fossil fuels.

“This is highly disappointing, but it shows that the satellite recognises Australia’s important relation successful making unsafe clime alteration worse,” May said.

According to the International Energy Agency, some Australia and Turkiye are heavy babelike connected coal, lipid and state for energy, but some countries person besides been making advancement successful renewable energy.

Australia’s national Labor authorities had hoped to showcase renewable vigor advancement successful the authorities of South Australia by hosting the league successful the state’s capital, Adelaide.

However, the connection was analyzable by the city’s conflict to header with a important toxic algal bloom that has been taking spot offshore for 8 months.

Algal blooms are 1 of galore complications caused by warming oceans, an facet of clime alteration that clime scientists and different experts said tin beryllium improved lone by rapidly reducing dependence connected fossil fuels.

A dormant food washes up connected Glenelg Beach connected July 13, 2025, successful Adelaide, Australia, during a toxic algal bloom [Tracey Nearmy/Getty Images]