Türkiye ready to host COP31 alone next year

Türkiye is ready to host COP31 alone should Australia rejects holding next year’s climate conference together, Turkish diplomatic sources said.

According to the source, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has repeated Ankara’s proposal once again to Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in a letter.

Türkiye and Australia, two bidders for the 2026 COP31 conference, have long been in close talks for resolving the standoff over who should host it. Türkiye suggests Antalya while Australia bids Adelaide for the conference to be held in November 2026.

According to the diplomatic sources, Türkiye’s candidacy is based on the principles of cooperation and inclusiveness and has been running the process in close and constructive consultations with Australia.

As a result of talks between the two sides on the margins of the UN General Assembly meetings in September, Türkiye and Australia had agreed to hold COP31 and run negotiation processes together while sharing high-level meetings.

However, Australia changed its position recently on the grounds that UN rules don’t support co-chairmanship model and it could undermine its plans to highlight the climatic problems the Pacific region suffers. Albanese informed Erdoğan about this through a letter.

Erdoğan, in response to Albanese, underlined that Türkiye sees sharing COP31 presidency as an exemplary move to foster multilateralism and believes that flexible and innovative solutions can be generated to make the conference even more successful.

The diplomatic sources also underlined that Türkiye’s COP31 priorities include not a single region but all regions that will be impacted most by the climate changes and to this end special sessions to focus on Pacific would be held.