COP31 hosts face pressure to put fossil fuels on the agenda

The hosts of COP31 are likely to face pressure to put fossil-fuel language on the agenda when the climate conference meets in Antalya, Türkiye, in November, The Hindu reported on 28 September.

Türkiye is hosting the conference, with environment minister Murat Kurum as COP31 president. Australia will oversee the negotiations, with energy and climate change minister Chris Bowen serving as vice-president. The joint arrangement gives the two countries different responsibilities for the summit.

The Hindu says the joint presidency’s listed priorities do not directly refer to a transition away from fossil fuels. They also do not include loss-and-damage financing or the wider climate-finance question. That omission could become a focus of negotiations, as countries decide which agenda items to bring forward.

The report says the catastrophic floods in Nepal on 26 August are likely to add momentum to mitigation language, including discussion of fossil fuels, and to calls for loss-and-damage finance. Pressure is also building from the wider push for concrete action on the transition away from fossil fuels.

In a response quoted by The Hindu, the Türkiye presidency said: “We know there are strong views on all sides of this topic. We will create space for Parties to discuss the transition and listen carefully to the positions they bring forward to see what we can agree by consensus.”

The presidency said electrification is the flagship of the COP31 Action Agenda because electrifying buildings, transport and industry cuts emissions and should be accompanied by more renewable energy. The question for Antalya will be whether that action focus can coexist with formal discussion of fossil-fuel transition and finance.

The Hindu’s report says the Australian presidency did not respond to its questions. The outcome will depend on whether participating countries propose new agenda items and how the two fossil-fuel-heavy hosts navigate the negotiations.