COP31 and the Climate Crisis – What You Need to Know
The UN climate conference – COP31 – will take place from 9th to 20th November this year. The conference will involve international discussions and negotiations to tackle the climate crisis.
What is COP31?
In 1992, 154 countries signed the legally binding United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to agree to combat climate change. COP, or Conference of the Parties, is an international committee that was created to put plans into action. COP31 will be the 31st conference. It will be hosted in Antalya, Türkiye, with Australia leading negotiations.
What are the aims of COP31?
COP31 will be focused on implementing promises made in the Paris Agreement at COP21. This includes keeping global warming below the dangerous 1.5°C limit. The 2023 Global Stocktake showed that the world is off-track on this limit.
Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) detail each country’s plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change. COP31 will be reviewing progress on these goals. There will be discussions on how to make plans more ambitious and how to mobilise finance to fund action.
Specific goals for COP31 include transitioning to:
Electric energy
Zero waste economies
Climate-resilient cities
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Who can attend?
There will be world leaders, politicians and national government representatives from 198 negotiating parties (197 states and the EU) that are bound by the Paris Agreement. The conference will also be observed or advised by academics, journalists, campaigners and lobbyists.
What are some contentious issues?
Achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement requires consensus on significant social and economic change. Some nations are more resistant to action.
Who pays for the crisis? Financing change adequately and fairly among vulnerable, developed and developing nations will be hotly debated.
Negotiations at COP are influenced by the fossil fuel industry. Last year at COP30, nearly one in 25 of registered delegates were fossil fuel lobbyists. As a result, the final agreements failed to mention any fossil fuel phaseout roadmap.
What needs to happen going forward?
Although there has been progress, the 2025 UNEP Emissions Gap Report finds that global warming projections based on current policies are 2.8°C. Nations must deliver more ambitious NDCs and commit to phasing out fossil fuels – the main driver of climate change. COP should be in the hands of the nations and citizens most affected by climate change, not the fossil fuel industry.
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Images:
COP31 Press Conference - Image from UNclimatechange on Flickr (ST ref:1432)
nuclear plant and toxic waste - Image by Rosy, Bad Homburg, Germany from Pixabay (ST ref: 1433)
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