COP31 in Antalya: Türkiye hosts climate summit for the first time

The 31st Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP31) opened in Antalya on 9 November. Hosted by Türkiye for the first time, the conference runs until 20 November. Held at the Antalya Expo site, the summit is expected to draw participants from nearly 200 countries, with around 100,000 visitors anticipated in the Blue Zone and some 1.5 million in the publicly accessible Green Zone.

Murat Kurum, Minister of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change, has assumed the COP31 Presidency. Under the arrangement agreed at COP30, formal negotiations are led by Australia’s Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen, while Türkiye leads the Action Agenda. Samed Ağırbaş, President of the Zero Waste Foundation, serves as Climate High-Level Champion, and Fatma Varank as Türkiye’s Chief Climate Negotiator.

The World Leaders’ Summit takes place on 11–12 November, on the third and fourth days of the conference. Convened under the theme “Towards a Sustainable, Resilient and Just Future,” it is expected to bring together 102 heads of state and government and around 300 ministers. Leaders will discuss national climate commitments and each join at least one high-level dialogue. The Turkish Presidency is hosting a leaders’ roundtable on zero waste, circularity and methane on 11 November, and another on clean cooking in Africa, together with the International Energy Agency and Tanzania, on 12 November.

The main agenda items are climate finance, the clean energy transition, adaptation and a just transition. Agriculture and food security, as well as health, are among the ten priority areas of the Action Agenda; the “Antalya Initiative for Health Resilience” was launched in this context. Each day of the programme is devoted to a different theme, including energy and transport, zero waste, resilient cities, finance and trade, youth and education, science and technology, and oceans and nature. 18 November is dedicated to “İmece: Strengthening Implementation,” reflecting Türkiye’s approach to the conference.

Türkiye on the international stage

Hosting COP31 is part of a busy year of summit diplomacy for Türkiye. In July 2026 the country hosted the 32-member NATO Leaders’ Summit in Ankara, its second NATO summit after Istanbul in 2004. The annual Antalya Diplomacy Forum and meetings of the Organization of Turkic States also feature on the same calendar. Antalya was chosen for COP31 partly on account of its transport and accommodation infrastructure and its experience in hosting the 2015 G20 Leaders’ Summit.

In terms of climate diplomacy, Türkiye ratified the Paris Agreement in 2021 and has announced a net-zero emissions target for 2053; it presented its updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) at COP30. The Zero Waste Movement launched in 2017 paved the way for the United Nations to declare 30 March the International Day of Zero Waste and has become one of the themes Türkiye is highlighting at COP31. Given its geographic position between Europe, the Middle East, the Caucasus, Central Asia and Africa, Türkiye aims to act as a bridge between industrialised, emerging and developing countries at the conference.

As host, Türkiye prepared a total area of 1.1 million square metres. Transport is provided by 630 low-emission buses supplied by 25 municipalities; the Blue Zone’s largest hall, “Anadolu,” seats 1,794, while the largest Green Zone hall holds 5,000. Türkiye also shared its 2035 targets, including halving waste generation, reducing energy intensity in buildings by at least 25 percent and expanding climate-resilient agriculture.

At the opening, UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell said progress so far was “nowhere near far enough or fair enough” and urged countries to accelerate solutions. The conference is scheduled to close on 20 November.