COP31 is opening in Antalya, Turkey, under a divided hosting arrangement that puts Australia in charge of negotiations and Turkey in control of a programme of voluntary climate initiatives, according to reporting by The Guardian’s Fiona Harvey.

The compromise followed a bitter dispute between the two countries over hosting the summit. Australian climate and energy minister Chris Bowen will oversee the negotiations day to day, while Turkey’s environment minister, Murat Kurum, will oversee the action agenda.

The arrangement leaves UN climate chief Simon Stiell managing relations between the two hosts as well as the countries negotiating at the fortnight-long talks, The Guardian reported.

Electrification — replacing fossil fuels with electricity in transport, heating and industry — is expected to be a prominent theme. International Energy Agency head Fatih Birol is understood to be among the advisers behind that emphasis. Turkey has also promoted waste reduction and the circular economy, an interest championed by Emine Erdoğan, the wife of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

The summit brings together countries facing competing pressures over fossil fuels and clean energy. Australia remains a major fossil-fuel exporter while investing heavily in renewables. China’s President Xi Jinping will not attend, but the country’s officials will represent both the world’s largest greenhouse-gas emitter and a major force in renewable-energy investment.

No official U.S. delegation is expected, The Guardian reported. Some Democratic politicians and business leaders may attend, although their participation remains uncertain.

The negotiations also face a continuing divide over how to address fossil fuels. At last year’s COP30, Saudi Arabia resisted including even an indirect reference to the earlier pledge to transition away from fossil fuels until the final moments, according to The Guardian.

This will be António Guterres’s final UN climate summit as secretary general. His successor has not yet been chosen, the newspaper reported.

Sources