COP31 in Antalya: Why Delivering Past Climate Promises Matters More Than New Goals
The 31st UN climate summit, COP31, is being held in Antalya, Türkiye, from 9 to 20 November 2026. Türkiye's Environment Minister Murat Kurum is the COP31 President, while Australia's climate minister Chris Bowen leads the formal negotiations as "President of Negotiations".
A recent editorial argued that countries must first deliver on the promises they have already made, especially on money for poorer countries and on their own emission-cut plans, before announcing new "lofty" goals.
Climate finance has become the most difficult issue at the summit, especially money for adaptation (helping people cope with heat, floods and droughts). At COP30 in Belém (2025), countries called for efforts to at least triple adaptation finance by 2035, but did not set out clearly who will pay.
Countries' current climate plans, called Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), are still not enough to keep warming to 1.5°C, according to UN assessments.
The past record explains the concern: the promise of $100 billion a year by 2020 for developing countries was met only in 2022, two years late.
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, agreed in 1992. The Conference of the Parties (COP) is its yearly meeting of all member countries and its highest decision-making body. "COP31" simply means the 31st such meeting. Every major climate deal, like the Paris Agreement and the new finance goal, was agreed at a COP.
Because COPs work by consensus and their decisions mostly rely on countries keeping their word, there is no strong punishment for missed promises. This is why the editorial argues that COP31 should focus on delivering earlier commitments rather than adding new targets.
New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) on Climate Finance
The New Collective Quantified Goal, or NCQG, is the world's current target for climate finance, meaning money that flows to developing countries to help them cut emissions and adapt to climate change. It was agreed at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, in November 2024. Developed countries are to take the lead in providing at least $300 billion a year by 2035, and all actors are called on to scale up total flows to at least $1.3 trillion a year by 2035. It replaced the older goal of $100 billion a year.
The editorial's warning about "lofty goals" applies directly to finance. The $1.3 trillion figure is only a call to all actors, and the firm $300 billion promise is still far away. Developing countries at COP31 want proof that the money is actually moving, especially for adaptation, before they accept new targets.
Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) Under the Paris Agreement
A Nationally Determined Contribution, or NDC, is each country's own climate action plan under the Paris Agreement. In it, a country says how much it will cut or limit its emissions and how it will adapt to climate change. Each country sets its own target, and every five years it must send a new, stronger plan. Making and sending an NDC is compulsory, but actually meeting the target is not legally binding.
UN reviews show that, even if every NDC is fully met, the world will still miss the 1.5°C goal. The editorial's point is that countries should first carry out the NDCs they have already sent, and rich countries should deliver the finance that many developing countries' "conditional" targets depend on, before making new headline pledges at COP31.
- COP31: Antalya, Türkiye, 9 to 20 November 2026; President Murat Kurum (Türkiye); President of Negotiations Chris Bowen (Australia)
- COP31 is also CMP21 and CMA8
- UNFCCC: signed at Rio, 1992; in force 21 March 1994; COP1 Berlin 1995; secretariat in Bonn
- NCQG (COP29, Baku, 2024): at least $300 billion a year by 2035; call for $1.3 trillion a year by 2035
- Old goal: $100 billion a year by 2020, met in 2022 (about $115.9 billion, OECD)
- COP30 (Belém, 2025): call to at least triple adaptation finance by 2035
- NDC rules: Article 4, Paris Agreement; new NDC every 5 years
- India's 2035 NDC: 47% intensity cut, 60% non-fossil capacity; net-zero by 2070