COP31 in Türkiye: How 34 Years of Climate Talks Led Here and What Is on the Table
The 31st Conference of the Parties (COP31) to the UN climate treaty will be held in Antalya, Türkiye, from 9 to 20 November 2026.
Under a special deal reached at COP30, Türkiye hosts the summit and leads its action agenda, while Australia acts as "President of Negotiations" and steers the formal talks. Pacific island nations are to get special attention.
The main subjects of negotiation are adaptation (coping with climate damage), mitigation (cutting emissions), just transition (a fair shift away from fossil fuels) and climate finance (money for poorer countries).
The host presidency has proposed a global target: electricity should supply 35% of the world's final energy use by 2035 (this is called an electrification target, because more use of electricity from clean sources means less burning of oil and gas).
The "Belém Mission to 1.5", launched at COP30 in Brazil, is to present a report on turning countries' national climate plans into real action.
COP31 builds on COP30's outcomes: a call to triple adaptation finance by 2035, 59 indicators to track the Global Goal on Adaptation, and a new just transition mechanism.
UNFCCC and the Conference of the Parties (COP)
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is the main world treaty on climate change. It was adopted in 1992 and came into force in 1994. The Conference of the Parties (COP) is its yearly meeting of all member countries, and it is the treaty's highest decision-making body. The Kyoto Protocol (1997) and the Paris Agreement (2015) were both agreed at COPs under this treaty.
COP31 is the next yearly meeting of the UNFCCC's members. Its unusual Türkiye-Australia leadership deal and its focus on adaptation, finance and the energy shift are all part of the COP system that the convention created in 1992.
Adaptation Finance Under the UNFCCC and Paris Agreement
Adaptation finance is money used to help people, farms, cities and nature cope with climate change effects that are already happening, such as floods, heat waves and droughts. It is different from mitigation finance, which pays to cut emissions (for example, solar plants). Developing countries say adaptation gets far less money than it needs, because it rarely earns a profit for investors.
Adaptation is one of COP31's four main negotiating areas. The summit's spotlight on Pacific island nations, which face rising seas, makes the gap between the adaptation money promised at COP30 and the money actually delivered a central issue in Antalya.
Just Transition: A Fair Shift to Clean Energy
A just transition means moving from a fossil fuel economy to a clean economy in a way that is fair to workers and communities who depend on coal, oil and gas for their living. For example, if a coal mine closes, its workers need new jobs, training and social support. The idea is that climate action should not push the poorest people into hardship.
Just transition is one of COP31's four headline topics. The presidency's proposed 35% electrification target by 2035 makes the question sharper: if the world uses more clean electricity and less oil and gas, the workers and regions tied to fossil fuels will need a fair plan.
- COP31: Antalya, Türkiye, 9 to 20 November 2026 (also CMP21 and CMA8)
- COP31 President: Murat Kurum (Türkiye); President of Negotiations: Chris Bowen (Australia)
- Proposed global electrification target: 35% by 2035
- UNFCCC: adopted 1992, in force 21 March 1994; IPCC set up 1988
- Kyoto Protocol: adopted at COP3 (1997), in force 2005
- Paris Agreement: adopted at COP21 (2015); goal of "well below 2°C", with efforts to limit warming to 1.5°C
- COP29 finance goal (NCQG): at least $300 billion a year by 2035; ambition of $1.3 trillion a year
- COP30 (Belém, 2025): triple adaptation finance by 2035; 59 adaptation indicators; just transition mechanism; Belém Mission to 1.5 and Global Implementation Accelerator launched