COP31 Green Zone Opens Free Public Registration Ahead of Antalya Climate Summit

The public will be able to walk through the doors of the COP31 climate summit without a delegate badge or an accreditation letter. According to the official COP31 website, public registration for the Green Zone at the Antalya Expo Center is free — listed at 0 Turkish lira — giving ordinary visitors, students, businesses and civil society groups a direct window into the world’s biggest climate gathering.

What the Green Zone is

Every UN climate conference is split into two worlds. The Blue Zone is the formal negotiation space — reserved for accredited country delegations, media and observer organizations. The Green Zone is the public-facing part of the summit: a programme of exhibitions, pavilions, talks and events open to people who are not part of the official negotiations.

A visitor guide to COP31 published this week describes the Green Zone as the area designed for the public, featuring exhibitions and events for anyone who is not accredited for the Blue Zone. The official COP31 site confirms the same setup at Antalya and lists free public registration for the Green Zone.

Where and when it happens

COP31 — the 31st Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change — runs from 9 to 20 November 2026 in Antalya, Türkiye. The venue is the Antalya Expo Center in the Aksu district, on the fair and exhibition grounds off Serik Caddesi, according to the official COP31 site.

The presidency is held by Türkiye’s Minister of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change, Murat Kurum, while Australia leads the formal negotiations under an arrangement agreed between the two countries. The presidency has framed COP31 as an “implementation COP”, built around an Action Agenda launched during New York Climate Week in September — ten priority themes, six global targets, eleven initiatives and thirteen supporting outputs, including a push to raise electricity’s share of final energy use to 35 percent by 2035, according to a summary of the launch.

Who can enter — and how

Anyone can register for the Green Zone, and registration is free. In contrast, the Blue Zone inside the Antalya Expo Center requires accreditation: participants must collect badges from the registration desk with an acknowledgment letter from the online registration system and a valid photo ID, according to the IETA Business Pavilion’s guidance for attendees.

Separately, the COP31 presidency has opened media registration for the conference, and parliamentary briefings ahead of the summit noted that around 7,000 UN-accredited organizations worldwide are eligible to request Blue Zone access. The Green Zone, by design, stays outside that accreditation system — it is the channel through which the public, local NGOs, universities and businesses can take part.

Why the Green Zone matters

For previous climate conferences, the Green Zone has hosted youth delegations, startup showcases, city and business pavilions, and cultural programming alongside the negotiations. It is also where announcements aimed at the public — rather than negotiators — tend to land. With COP31’s presidency pushing implementation over new pledges, the Green Zone is positioned as the place where climate solutions on display meet the people who will use them.

Visitors planning to attend are advised to register in advance through the official COP31 channels, and to check the published Green Zone programme closer to the summit for the full schedule of exhibitions and events.

Key facts

• Event: COP31 Green Zone public programme, Antalya, Türkiye
• Dates: 9–20 November 2026, alongside the UN climate summit
• Venue: Antalya Expo Center, Aksu district
• Registration: free public registration, listed at 0 TRY on the official COP31 site
• Blue Zone access: accredited delegations, media and observer organizations only

Read more climate coverage on Watan News climate section.