2026 United Nations Climate Change Conference
31st UN climate conference
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The 2026 United Nations Climate Change Conference or Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC, more commonly known as COP31, is the upcoming 31st session of the United Nations Climate Change Conference, to be held at Antalya Expo Center in Antalya, Turkey from 9 to 20 November, 2026.[1]
| Part of United Nations Climate Change Conference | |
| Date | 9–20 November 2026 |
|---|---|
| Duration | 11 days |
| Venue | Antalya Expo Center |
| Location | Antalya, Turkey |
| Also known as | COP31 |
| Previous event | ← Belém 2025 |
| Next event | → Addis Ababa 2027 |
Planning
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Australia and Turkey had both made bids to host COP31. United Nations rule require a global consensus on a host country; if no agreement had been reached, it would have automatically been hosted in Bonn as the headquarters of the agency that oversees the Paris Agreement.[2][3] Australia's Albanese government had prioritised hosting the conference, which it planned to host in Adelaide, and campaigned for its bid over 3 years.[3] Representatives of both countries negotiated during COP30 as neither would withdraw their bid, although neither Recep Tayyip Erdoğan nor Anthony Albanese attended.[4] After a week of negotiations in November 2025, Turkey and Australia compromised by allowing Turkey to host, while Australian Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen will preside over negotiations.[2][3]
Organisation and key people
There will be a pre-COP meeting on a Pacific island.[5] The Leaders’ Summit is expected to be in Istanbul,[6] where the ongoing 7th cycle of scientific work for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was planned.[7] When the eventual IPCC Seventh Assessment Report will be published is not yet known, as countries disagree on whether the work of the IPCC should be aligned with the UNFCCC.[8]
Murat Kurum, the Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change will chair.[9] Halil Hasar, the Head of Climate Change at that Ministry and first lady Emine Erdoğan may be prominent.[10] Minister for Climate Change and Energy for Australia Chris Bowen will be Vice-President and President of Negotiations.[9][11] Turkey's Chief Climate Negotiator is Fatma Varank.[12]
Samed Ağırbaş, President of the Zero Waste Foundation, will serve as Climate High-Level Champion for COP31.[13] Working alongside the High-Level Champion for COP30, Ağırbaş' role focuses on mobilizing ambitious climate action from businesses, financial institutions, cities, regions, civil society and communities to support governments in achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement.[14]
Non-government participation
Greenpeace said that coal subsidies in Turkey are a waste of money, greenhouse gas emissions by Turkey should be reduced, and called for a just transition to stop burning coal, strong adaptation policies and civil society participation.[15] Academic İbrahim Özdemir has called for universities, civil society organizations, and climate activists to be given a “meeting and contribution platform”.[16] The location was agreed a year beforehand, but at that time the UNFCCC secretariat was saying that admitting organizations to observe these climate change conferences would take longer than that due to lack of resources.[17] However some non-governmental organizations in Turkey, such as nature conservation organization Yolda and the Turkish Foundation for Combating Soil Erosion can nominate people to observe as they have been admitted to previous such conferences.[18]