COP31: Protesters and UN urge swift climate deal in Turkey
At COP31 in Antalya, Turkey, UNFCCC executive secretary Simon Stiell told negotiators from more than 200 nations that reaching an agreement is “tough but vital work” and that there is no collective success without compromise from every party. He urged them, as the second week begins, to move swiftly onto the hardest issues and to avoid “tactical delays” that could block a deal aimed at keeping warming within 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit). A first draft of a deal text is expected next week, according to Australia’s COP31 President of Negotiations Chris Bowen.
Downtown, thousands of civil society and environmental activists protested the consequences of climate change. Organizers said tens of thousands marched through Antalya on Saturday for climate protection and human rights; many were dismayed at weak progress and at the crisis taking a back seat. Turkish authorities allowed the rally in a country that often bans large gatherings. A parallel People’s Climate Summit involving hundreds of domestic and international groups is also being held this weekend. South African activist Zaki Mamdoo told DW that the pursuit of profit at all costs still sets the global agenda. Luisa Nebauer, the main organizer of Germany’s Fridays for Future movement, lamented that Chancellor Friedrich Merz and several other European leaders were absent, saying crises cannot be solved while the planet destabilizes “by the hour.”
Governments are watering down clean-energy commitments and the billions needed for developing nations to adapt, amid inflation, wars, deindustrialization and debt. The United States has skipped the talks for a second year under President Donald Trump, who has called climate change a hoax and promoted fossil fuels. Large fossil-fuel producers are pressing against stricter, faster oil-and-gas phaseout targets. COP31 is seeking finance and investment, cuts in super-pollutants and methane, and food security. Host Turkey is pushing a plan to expand global electrification, though some environmental groups say it does not sufficiently require renewable power. A UN report last month warned that within a few years the world is set to exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) of warming—the COP21 threshold set in 2015 beyond which scientists expect increasingly extreme climate effects.
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