COP31 climate summit opens in Antalya, Turkey on November 9, with implementation in focus

The United Nations' 31st climate conference, COP31, will be held from November 9 to 20 in Antalya, Turkey. Turkey will preside over the conference while Australia will lead the formal negotiations. The special significance of this year's summit is the announced emphasis on implementing previous decisions alongside new pledges.

Over three decades of climate summits, the mountain of promises has grown ever higher. But questions remain about how much of the expected progress has actually been made on carbon emissions, climate finance and protection of affected people. Global warming, extreme weather, sea-level rise and climate-driven losses have already become an alarming reality.

The institutional foundation of international climate cooperation was laid through the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, adopted at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit. Its core philosophy was that although climate change is a global problem, not all countries bear equal historical responsibility or have equal capacity. Regular international talks began with the first COP in 1995.

The Kyoto Protocol of 1997 set binding emission-reduction targets for developed countries. Although it was an important step forward, limited participation and weaknesses in implementation meant it was not effective enough in controlling global emissions.

At the 2009 Copenhagen summit, developed countries announced a goal of mobilising 100 billion US dollars a year by 2020 for developing countries. But the target was not met on time. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), it was first exceeded in 2022, when finance reached 115.9 billion dollars. This delay made the trust deficit between developed and developing countries in climate talks even more visible.

The Paris Agreement of 2015 created a historic turning point in climate diplomacy. It set the goal of keeping global temperature rise well below 2 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5 degrees. Countries pledged to make their Nationally Determined Contributions, or NDCs, more ambitious every five years.

At Glasgow COP26 in 2021, a collective decision for the first time called for phasing down unabated coal-based power generation and reducing inefficient fossil-fuel subsidies. The need to strengthen climate adaptation and finance was also reiterated. However, no binding timetable was set for a complete move away from fossil fuels.

COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, in 2022 achieved an important breakthrough. After long negotiations, it was decided to establish a 'loss and damage' fund for vulnerable countries harmed by climate change. For climate-vulnerable countries including Bangladesh, it was an important recognition of climate justice.

The first global stocktake was completed at Dubai COP28 in 2023. The summit called for a just and orderly transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems. Goals were also set to triple global renewable power capacity and double the annual rate of energy-efficiency improvement by 2030. Making the loss and damage fund operational was another important achievement. However, the major limitation of these decisions was the absence of clear implementation obligations and adequate finance.

COP29, held in Baku, Azerbaijan in 2024, revolved mainly around climate finance. After long negotiations, a goal was set to collect at least 300 billion dollars a year by 2035 for developing countries. Alongside it came a broader goal of expanding finance to 1.3 trillion dollars a year from public and private sources combined.

Although the new target is significantly larger than the previous 100 billion dollars, many developing countries consider it inadequate compared to real needs, because climate adaptation, the transition to clean energy and coping with loss and damage require huge investment. Alongside the amount of money, the type of finance also matters: loan-dependent assistance can increase the debt burden of climate-vulnerable countries. Grants, low-interest finance, technology transfer and easily accessible funds must therefore be given equal importance.

COP30 was held in Belém, Brazil in November 2025. After that, the question at this year's Antalya summit is how far the gap between promises and implementation will narrow.