Antalya (Türkiye) (AFP) – Temperatures are rising, there is not enough money to deal with climate change and geopolitical tensions are making compromise ever more difficult. Despite this grim picture, nearly 200 countries are meeting in Türkiye to try to keep global climate cooperation on track.

Published on: 09/11/2026 - 01:32

In the vast exhibition center of the seaside resort of Antalya, more than 100,000 participants are expected over two weeks for COP31, the annual United Nations climate negotiations. The blue of the Mediterranean has replaced the Amazonian humidity of Belem, Brazil, which hosted COP30 last year.

The atmosphere is less euphoric than realism. Many people talk about a conference intended above all to transform the commitments made during previous editions into concrete actions.

The year was once again marked by a succession of climatic disasters, between deadly floods in Nepal, heat waves in Europe and suffocating fires in Indonesia.

At the same time, the energy crisis fueled by the war in the Middle East, rising prices and the budgetary difficulties of many governments are weighing on climate ambition.

The scientific findings continue to deteriorate. In September, the UN warned that the planet remained on a trajectory inconsistent with the most ambitious goal of the 2015 Paris agreement, when countries committed to trying to limit warming to 1.5°C compared to the pre-industrial era.

Battle over electricity

Turkey is chairing this COP31 with the support of Australia, responsible for leading the negotiations, following an unprecedented compromise on the organization of the conference.

Ankara intends to make electrification a key theme. Its objective: for countries to agree to increase the share of electricity in global energy consumption to 35% by 2035, compared to around 20% today.

But this initiative could itself become a point of contention.

The European Union is calling for “clean” electrification, implying electricity production free of coal, oil and gas. Several fossil fuel producing countries should be more reluctant to this formulation.

The money quarrel

In the immediate future, discussions continued on Sunday on the inclusion or not of certain points on finance on the agenda.

African countries are demanding in particular that there be a tripling of funding intended for adaptation to climate change, essential to protect the most vulnerable countries in the face of droughts, floods or rising ocean levels.

At COP29 in Baku, developed countries committed to mobilizing at least $300 billion per year by 2035.

“We must obtain concrete progress on this trajectory because the agreement did not clearly specify what part should come from public funding,” explains Anna Cárcamo of Greenpeace Brazil to AFP in front of the entrance to the exhibition center.

Without the White House

Another shadow over the conference: the absence of the administration of American President Donald Trump. However, the United States remains the world's largest economy and the second largest emitter of greenhouse gases behind China.

The effectiveness of role sharing between Turkey and Australia will also be scrutinized. What will happen if there is disagreement on a subject? Couldn’t the tandem, with its different allies, ultimately facilitate the search for compromise?

Even if the discussions promise to be difficult, "the atmosphere is very good", in particular thanks to the reception conditions and a "good chemistry" between the co-presidents, Azerbaijan's chief negotiator, Yalchin Rafiyev, assured AFP on Sunday.

“The main thing,” he added, “is to achieve a balance between the pillars of the Paris agreement: adaptation (to the consequences of climate change, editor’s note), mitigation (of its causes via, for example, the reduction of coal consumption, editor’s note) and financing.”

© 2026 AFP

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