Antalya (Turkey) (AFP) - United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called on world leaders on Monday to "deal seriously" with the issue of climate change, coinciding with the start of the COP31 conference in Turkey, amid a dispute that emerged from the beginning between negotiators from rich and developing countries over financing issues.

Published on: 09/11/2026 - 08:41 Last updated: 09/11/2026 - 10:29

Guterres's call came at the start of the annual United Nations climate conference held in the Turkish city of Antalya on the Mediterranean coast, in the presence of thousands of participants.

The conference comes after a year that witnessed severe heat waves in Europe, widespread forest fires in Indonesia, and catastrophic floods in Nepal, in light of the exceptionally strong “El Niño” climate phenomenon.

“We have entered a new era of extreme weather events,” Guterres said in a statement.

He urged the leaders participating in the conference to "show seriousness by accelerating the reduction of emissions, accelerating the achievement of a just transition away from fossil fuels, and providing the necessary financing and protection to the countries most vulnerable to climate change."

However, the opening of the conference was delayed by an hour and a half, without an explanation.

The negotiators held discussions that continued until late on Sunday regarding the demands of developing countries to include items related to financing on the official agenda.

The head of the Greenpeace delegation to the conference, Jasper Inventor, said, "It was a difficult start to the COP31 conference."

Under the United Nations climate agreements, developed countries, which historically bear responsibility for the bulk of greenhouse gas emissions, have provided financial support to help developing countries adapt to the repercussions of climate change and shift toward cleaner energy. However, the poorest countries believe that these amounts are still insufficient.

Inventor stated that developed countries are taking a "hard stance" on including in the conference agenda a platform that was agreed upon during the COP30 conference in Brazil last year, which aims to discuss mechanisms for rich countries to provide financing to developing countries.

African countries are seeking to include an item on the agenda of the COP31 conference to discuss increasing funding for adaptation efforts by three times, with the aim of helping the poorest countries cover the costs of measures such as building sea barriers or growing drought-resistant crops.

A senior EU official warned last week that there would be "no political will" to make additional funding pledges during the COP31 conference.

Observers do not expect major breakthroughs to be achieved at a time when countries around the world are making efforts to contain the repercussions of the oil price crisis in light of geopolitical tensions fueled by the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine.

The hottest years

Guterres' statement coincides with a report by the World Meteorological Organization indicating that the year 2026 continued to record exceptional temperatures globally, accompanied by the melting of ice and a rise in sea levels.

Last week, the European Union Climate Observatory predicted that 2026 would be the second hottest year since data records began. Scientists did not expect that the El Niño phenomenon would make 2027 the hottest year on record.

The organization stated that the past 12 years were all among the hottest years since data recording began, and it is expected that the current year will be one of the hottest years ever.

The outlook is bleak. The United Nations warned in September that global temperatures could exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, exceeding the threshold set by the Paris climate agreement.

Rachel Cletus, Director of the Climate Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said: “World leaders must rescue us from the brink of the abyss and commit to rapidly transitioning away from fossil fuels and expanding the use of renewable energy, a necessity that is increasingly urgent in light of the current energy cost crisis.”

Disagreement over fossil fuels

Türkiye chairs the COP31 conference while Australia leads the negotiations, under an extraordinary arrangement put in place to end a dispute over which country will host the conference.

The two partners named this summit the “Implementation Cup,” with a focus on transforming commitments into concrete actions, after years of ambitious pledges and declarations.

In parallel with the official negotiations, Türkiye is putting forward an “action agenda” aimed at encouraging countries to support non-binding pledges on various issues, from artificial intelligence to waste management.

This endeavor revolves around an electricity initiative, which aims to raise the share of electricity in meeting global energy demand from about 20% currently to 35% by 2035.

However, this initiative may constitute a source of tension.

The European Union has called for the adoption of “clean” electricity, a term that may raise controversy about the role of fossil fuels in the Turkish proposal.

In a historic agreement during the COP28 conference in Dubai in 2023, countries committed to transitioning away from fossil fuels, but they faced difficulties in agreeing on how to turn this pledge into reality.

The COP30 conference concluded with an agreement that did not explicitly refer to fossil fuels, after oil-producing countries opposed the inclusion of such language.

Instead, Brazil has presented a voluntary “roadmap” with proposals to phase out fossil fuels, which each country can adapt to its own circumstances.

Climate diplomacy still lacks a major actor, after the United States withdrew from the Paris Agreement under President Donald Trump, and did not send any officials to the COP31 conference.

However, a delegation from the US Congress is scheduled to arrive in Antalya amid optimism among Democrats following their historic victory in the midterm elections in the United States last week.

© 2026 AFP

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