UN Climate Change Conference 2026: What you need to know about COP31 in Antalya
This year’s UN Climate Change Conference will be meeting in Türkiye. Here we answer key questions about it.
When and where will the UN Climate Change Conference 2026 be held?
The next UN Climate Change Conference will be held from 9 to 20 November 2026 in Antalya on the Turkish Riviera. It is specifically billed an implementation COP, because most of the content matter covered by the 2015 Paris Agreement has now been negotiated. Now, it is time for concrete action. COP31 is to signal that the Paris Agreement is working. States are sticking to their targets and aim to achieve them more rapidly.
Why is it called COP31?
The acronym COP stands for ‘Conference of the Parties’. The ‘Parties’ are the signatories to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), an international agreement. The COPs are numbered consecutively. This will be the 31st Conference of the Parties. The first (COP1) was held in Berlin in 1995, shortly after the UNFCCC came into effect.
Why was Türkiye selected to host COP31?
The venue for the Climate Change Conferences rotates amongst five country groups within the United Nations: Africa; Asia and Pacific; Latin America and the Caribbean; Western Europe, North America and Australia; and Eastern Europe. This time it was the turn of Western Europe, North America and Australia to host the conference. Two states from this group expressed their interest – Türkiye and Australia. To accommodate both states it was decided that they would share the presidency. Türkiye is the geographical host, officially holds the COP31 presidency and is thus responsible for the Action Agenda. Australia is responsible for the negotiations per se – the Formal Agenda is where states negotiate agreements and regulations that are then binding under international law. The Action Agenda complements these negotiations. It brings together non-governmental actors like cities, businesses, investors, Indigenous Peoples and civil society, to implement practical solutions in the real world. Although Türkiye, as the actual host, enjoys greater visibility than Australia, the two states share the presidency as equals.
In 2015 the Parties adopted this legally binding document in the French capital (COP21). It is considered a breakthrough in international climate policy, because the signatories agreed to a specific common goal – limiting global warming to a rise of less than 2° Celsius, and ideally less than 1.5° Celsius. Since then, the international community has worked with national climate targets, which every country must stipulate and submit at regular intervals. These are termed Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). They are to become increasingly ambitious until emissions of climate-damaging gases are low enough to bring climate change under control.
What initiatives can be expected from the two presidency states at COP31?
Both Türkiye and Australia demonstrate a strong climate commitment. The Action Agenda of the Turkish host embraces ten action areas, including zero waste and recycling, electric mobility and climate-resilient cities. The Turkish COP31 Presidency’s 35-by-35 Global Electrification Pledge seems set to attract particular attention. The idea is for electricity to account for 35 per cent of global energy consumption by 2035. In 2025, the figure was about 23 per cent, according to the International Energy Agency. With its Global Electrification Pledge, Türkiye is calling for investment to be provided for clean energy. It hopes for widespread support. Australia is particularly committed to ensuring that the 1.5° target remains achievable. It is also shifting the focus firmly to the Pacific with its small island states, for which climate change is a very serious threat. It is officially presenting itself as Australia-Pacific or even as the Australia-Pacific Partnership. As a strong symbol, Australia, Fiji and Tuvalu invited the small Pacific island states to the last Pre-COP31 ministerial meeting to illustrate the impacts of climate change on the ground.
Where are the main lines of conflict?
In Antalya the main focus will be on how states can hone their climate targets. The goal is to let global warming rise only temporarily above 1.5°C. Efforts to date will not suffice. In the year ahead, the second global stocktake, conducted globally every five years, will take stock of what has been achieved – and what has not. This is why the main question at COP31 will be how countries can extend their pledges and make them more binding. Interests collide in particular when it comes to climate finance. Developing countries are calling for more public funding. Industrial countries, by contrast, want to see a greater contribution from the private sector and emerging economies.
Who is attending the conference?
The 198 parties that have signed the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change will attend. They will be joined by observers, primarily international organisations, but also the Palestinian territories and Vatican City. Several thousand non-governmental organisations will also be represented. The conferences are organised by the UNFCCC Secretariat in conjunction with the host country. In 2023, the largest COP to date attracted a good 100,000 participants to Dubai. The hosts expect similar numbers in Antalya.
What are the goals of the UN Climate Change Conference?
The parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meet once a year to drive forward the transition to a climate-neutral world. The terms of the Paris Agreement are to be further developed and implemented. The Agreement provides for climate-damaging emissions to be reduced to zero by the middle of the century (net zero) and for the 1.5°C target to be achieved. Our planet should not get any warmer, because otherwise the consequences are held to be uncontrollable. Decisions on how people and societies can adapt to the changed climate are also important.
What contribution does GIZ make to achieving the objectives of the Paris Agreement?
GIZ helps implement international climate resolutions. In over 100 projects in more than 40 countries, we are advising states on how to adapt their energy systems to renewables, for instance. The establishment of carbon markets also plays an important part. Developing countries can implement projects to reduce carbon emissions and sell the resulting certificates on international markets. GIZ helps them with organisation, regulations and establishing project pipelines.
What were the outcomes of COP30 in Belém?
COP30 in Brazil was held on the edge of the Amazon, the world’s largest contiguous rainforest. Accordingly, Brazil focused in particular on forest protection and launched the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF). It is an international financing mechanism that pays countries with tropical forests to conserve the forests rather than cutting them down. The Facility is currently being established. In Belém, Brazil also announced a global roadmap for transitioning away from fossil fuels (TAFF). No agreement was reached on this at COP30, which is why discussions were continued after the conference at Brazil’s suggestion. More than 50 states have already been involved in these, with a first meeting held in Colombia.
Where do we stand with global warming?
The findings of the World Meteorological Organization indicate that global temperatures are continuing to rise. In 2025 the average global temperature was about 1.4°C higher than in the pre-industrial era, marking a significant rise. The water in the oceans was warmer than ever before. The window of opportunity to keep long-term global warming down to 1.5°C is closing. Without additional action, global warming will hit 2.6°C by the end of this century, says a Climate Action Tracker forecast. And even that presupposes that all countries meet their pledges.
Average global temperatures are set to rise by this figure by the end of the century if no additional action is taken.
