Breaking a stalemate that lasted over a year, Australia has ceded the hosting rights for the COP31 UN climate summit to Turkiye but will lead the negotiations, its environment minister told reporters in Belem on Wednesday.
Turkiye is set to host the two week-long summit in the resort city of Antalya next year after refusing to back down, despite Australia enjoying greater support for its candidacy.
Had Turkiye blocked Australia in a vote among the 28-nation-strong “Western Europe and Others” regional group whose turn it is to host COP next year, the summit would have defaulted to Bonn, the home of the UN climate body.
Australia’s Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen said that outcome would have been “irresponsible for multilateralism in this challenged environment”.
Australia to hold COP31 presidency for negotiations
Bowen struck a deal with his counterpart Murat Kurum, in which the Australians will hold the COP31 presidency for negotiations despite the talks being held on the Turkish Riviera.
The deal also includes the Pacific – which had partnered on Australia’s bid – hosting a pre-COP summit and pledging event for the Pacific Resilience Fund, Bowen said.
Palau’s ambassador Ilana Seid later told a press conference that she was “very dissapointed that it’s not going to be a Pacific COP” but that an option under discussion was that the annual official pre-COP meeting is held in a Pacific nation.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese hinted at his country’s campaign to host COP in the southern city of Adelaide losing steam this week, after he told an event in Perth he would not oppose Turkiye if it won enough support.
Bowen said that, under the deal, he expected to have the powers of COP presidency to manage the climate negotiations, prepare draft text and to issue any cover decision.
The Western Europe and Others group still needs to approve the arrangements for COP31, before the end of COP30. Turkiye has yet to comment publicly on the situation.
Hosting location “secondary” to outcomes
Laurence Tubiana, CEO of the European Climate Foundation and an architect of the Paris Agreement, said the question of where COP31 is hosted is “secondary to what it delivers”.
“What matters most is that the summit drives real progress on climate ambition, finance, and implementation, especially for the energy transition,” she added.
A former Turkish climate diplomat told Climate Home News that they were disappointed Turkiye would not hold the presidency.
“We bear the burden, but they hold the power. We have the drum but they hold the drumstick. We do the work but they make the decisions,” the official said.
Catherine Abreu, director of the International Climate Politics Hub, said that while the climate leadership of the Pacific “is crystal clear”, “if Australia is serious about having a key role in the 2026 climate conference, they need to stop holding up progress on adaptation finance in the final days of COP30.”
She called on Turkiye to back up its pitch of a “lower emissions COP” by supporting a COP30 roadmap to accelerate a just transition away from fossil fuels.
With growing fears over democratic backsliding in Turkiye, the selection of Antalya has also raised some concerns over the country’s willingness to protect freedom of expression and the right to protest during the summit.
Marta Schaaf, Amnesty International’s programme director for climate justice, said Turkiye must respect those rights “so that those advocating for climate justice can freely participate in shaping climate policies before, during and after COP31”.
(climatechangenews.com, November 20, 2025)
