COP31 Opens Today in Antalya as Calls Grow to Reform Climate Consensus Rules

The 31st UN climate conference, COP31, opens in Antalya today, Monday 9 November 2026, with its formal opening plenary scheduled for 10:00 local time at the Antalya Expo Center. Nearly 200 countries are taking part in the two-week summit, which runs until 20 November — and it opens with a debate about how the talks themselves work.

A first for the climate talks

COP31 is being led in a way the UN climate process has never tried before. Türkiye hosts the summit and holds the presidency, with Environment Minister Murat Kurum as COP31 President. Australia leads the formal negotiations, with Climate and Energy Minister Chris Bowen serving as President of Negotiations, under a power-sharing deal agreed in November 2025 after both countries sought to host.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese are expected to address the opening. A World Leaders’ Summit follows on 11 and 12 November, with 77 leaders listed to speak. Around 60,000 people are expected to attend the conference over the two weeks.

What happens on day one

The opening plenary is where the conference organises itself: countries elect officers, adopt the agenda and open the work of the subsidiary bodies. IPCC Chair Jim Skea will address the opening plenary, while IPCC Secretary Annett Möhner will update the opening session of the subsidiary bodies on the progress of the IPCC’s work.

One item could test the mood on the first day. A draft agenda left out a work programme on Article 9.1 of the Paris Agreement, which covers climate finance from developed countries, and the COP30 President has asked for it to be added in a letter that is not binding — so a first-day dispute over the agenda is possible.

The second Global Stocktake of the Paris Agreement also begins at COP31. It will assess countries’ collective progress and is due to be completed by 2028.

The consensus question

As the talks open, pressure is growing to change the consensus system under which COP decisions are made. Under the system, any participating country can block or hold up an agreement, and critics say some fossil-fuel-producing nations have used that leverage to resist steps away from fossil energy.

The outcome of COP30 in Brazil last year sharpened those concerns: its final agreement was widely criticised as lacking ambition and did not explicitly mention fossil fuels. Panama’s Environment Minister Juan Carlos Navarro said the rules can give a single participant the power to derail an agreement backed by nearly everyone. “COP is designed to fail,” he said.

Calls for reform are not new. The Club of Rome, an international think tank whose members include former heads of state, business leaders and scientists, urged “urgent reform” in an open letter in 2023, arguing that consensus inherently produces slow, incremental progress. It pointed to loss-and-damage funding, where agreement on a fund came only in 2022 after seven years of negotiations.

Ideas now under discussion include holding formal COP meetings every two years, making conferences smaller, or moving away from consensus-based decisions. France’s Minister for Ecological Transition, Monique Barbut, has pointed to “COP fatigue” from the annual schedule and proposed formal sessions every other year; the biodiversity and desertification conventions already follow a biennial schedule.

Finance and the 1.5C goal at stake

The talks open with the world’s climate goals under strain. In September, the United Nations said the 1.5-degree Celsius limit above pre-industrial temperatures was almost certain to be breached, while emissions from burning fossil fuels in 2025 remained near a record high.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has warned of a climate “moment of truth” ahead of the summit. Climate finance agreed at COP29 in Baku in 2024 — mobilising at least $300 billion a year for developing countries by 2035 — is also at stake in Antalya, with 2024 flows of roughly $137 billion far below that target.

The United States is not sending a formal delegation after its withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, although a delegation of US members of Congress is attending. Ethiopia’s foreign minister, Gedion Timothewos, is also in Antalya as COP32 president-designate, holding handover talks ahead of next year’s summit in Addis Ababa.

FAKTA

• COP31 runs 9–20 November 2026 at the Antalya Expo Center, Türkiye.
• Opening plenary: Monday 9 November, 10:00 local time.
• COP31 President: Murat Kurum (Türkiye). President of Negotiations: Chris Bowen (Australia).
• World Leaders’ Summit: 11–12 November 2026.
• Nearly 200 countries taking part; around 60,000 people expected.
• Second Global Stocktake begins at COP31; due to complete in 2028.
• Climate finance goal: at least $300 billion a year for developing countries by 2035.

What comes next

After the opening day, attention turns to the Leaders’ Summit on Wednesday and Thursday, when heads of state and government deliver national statements. The presidency’s voluntary Action Agenda — including a target to raise electricity’s share of final energy use to 35 percent by 2035 — will be tested against the formal negotiations over the two weeks. The conference is scheduled to close on Friday 20 November.

Frequently asked questions

When does COP31 open?

COP31 opens on Monday 9 November 2026 at the Antalya Expo Center, with the formal opening plenary scheduled for 10:00 local time. The conference runs until 20 November.

Who is leading COP31?

Türkiye hosts and holds the presidency under Environment Minister Murat Kurum, while Australia’s Climate and Energy Minister Chris Bowen leads the formal negotiations as President of Negotiations — the first shared presidency in the talks’ history.

What is decided on the first day?

Countries elect conference officers and adopt the agenda, which shapes everything that follows. A dispute is possible over adding a work programme on Article 9.1 climate finance to the agenda.

Why are the consensus rules being questioned?

Under consensus, any country can block an agreement. Critics say this lets a small number of countries slow action, pointing to COP30’s final deal, which did not mention fossil fuels.

What is the Global Stocktake?

It is the Paris Agreement’s regular review of countries’ collective progress. The second Global Stocktake begins at COP31 and is due to be completed by 2028.