UN Climate Talks Open Monday in Turkey
Published Sunday, 8 November, 10:30 a.m. ET (6:30 p.m. Antalya) · Source: UN Climate Change (UNFCCC), Turkish ministries, CopernicusOne of the world's biggest climate meetings opens Monday, 9 November, in Antalya, a Mediterranean resort city in southern Türkiye (Turkey). Our COP31 climate summit Antalya (leaders 11-12 Nov) dossier tracks every step.Key Facts
- What: The 31st Conference of the Parties (COP31) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) opens Monday, 9 November 2026, and runs to 20 November.
- Leaders' summit: Scheduled for 11 and 12 November 2026, with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan expected to lead the opening on 11 November.
- Who: Türkiye holds the presidency under Environment Minister Murat Kurum; Australia's climate minister Chris Bowen holds the title President of Negotiations.
- Numbers: Türkiye says 91 heads of state and government had confirmed by 31 October; about 26,000 security personnel will be on duty.
In plain English
COP is the annual UN climate meeting where nearly every country negotiates how to cut emissions and share the cost. This year Türkiye hosts, and Australia runs the negotiations.
What Opens on Monday
The 31st Conference of the Parties (COP31) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change opens Monday, 9 November, in the Turkish resort city of Antalya and runs to 20 November. Türkiye holds the presidency under the theme “COP of the Future – COP of Implementation,” while Australia's Chris Bowen is President of Negotiations.
The leaders' summit is scheduled for 11 and 12 November, with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan expected to lead the opening on 11 November. Deputy Foreign Minister Berris Ekinci has said UN Secretary-General António Guterres and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese are also expected to speak.
Environment Minister Murat Kurum, who leads the Turkish presidency as president-designate, said on 31 October that 91 heads of state and government had confirmed, up from 85 on 22 October. Those are Ankara's own figures, not independently checked.
He expects nearly 300 ministers and at least 1 million visitors to the grounds, and 159 pavilions and 90 delegation offices have been approved.
Inside the Venue
The site covers 1.1 million square meters (11.8 million square feet) and is divided into a Blue Zone and a Green Zone. The Blue Zone, the UN-run area, hosts negotiations and high-level meetings under accreditation-controlled access, while the Green Zone is designed for public participation through exhibitions, concerts and panels.
The largest Blue Zone plenary hall, named “Anadolu,” seats 1,794 people, and a second hall, “Akdeniz,” seats 828. The Green Zone's “Gaza Hall” is the largest on the site, with 5,000 seats.
Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi said about 26,000 police, gendarmerie (Türkiye's military police) and coast guard personnel will be on duty. Turkish officials also plan 630 additional vehicles, including low-emission buses and electric shuttles, to move visitors.
What Is at Stake
The UN says the world is at 1.4 degrees Celsius of warming and heading toward 2.6 degrees. Copernicus, the European Union's climate service, said October 2026 was the hottest October on record and that 2026 is virtually certain to be the second year above 1.5 degrees, behind 2024.
Negotiators will focus on following through on the pledge to transition away from fossil fuels and on delivering promised funds to poorer countries. The UN estimates fossil fuel subsidies reached US$1.1 trillion this year, and Brazil, last year's host, released a voluntary transition roadmap this month.
Rich countries that pledged climate money are under pressure to say how they will pay, and Washington's absence makes that harder.
Türkiye's Pitch
Türkiye is pushing a separate plan to raise electricity's share of global final energy demand from just over 20% today to 35% by 2035, a voluntary target, drawing more of it from solar and wind power. As we reported earlier, it will also present an industrial decarbonization platform targeting more than US$6 billion by 2030.
The United States, the largest historic carbon polluter, sent no official delegation to last year's conference, and its government is not taking part in the negotiations this year. A 19-member group of US lawmakers, led by the SEEC Institute, a nonpartisan think tank, will attend.
Fossil fuels have rarely been named in final texts because conference decisions require consensus.
What It Means for US Readers
Antalya is eight hours ahead of US Eastern Time now that US clocks have gone back, so a 3 p.m. local session would start at 7 a.m. ET the same day. The leaders' summit on 11 and 12 November will fall mostly in the US morning, depending on the final programme.
We found no confirmed livestream details, and the UNFCCC site (unfccc.int/cop31) and the Turkish Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change (iklim.gov.tr) are the places to check for programmes and any broadcast links. The US government is not taking part in the negotiations, but a 19-member congressional delegation is expected.
What Is Not Known
The start time and time zone of the opening session on 9 November are not confirmed at an official source. One timetable lists the Blue Zone opening session on 11 November at 12:15–13:30, but we could not verify it against an official programme or establish whether it is local time.
We could not load the UN climate secretariat's page on the leaders' summit, so the summit details come from search summaries and a September briefing by Turkish officials. Official programme times were still described as preliminary in our earlier reporting.
Some reports on 8 November say the conference has already opened, while the host programme says it begins Monday, 9 November. The official start is 9 November.
Officials have cited 85 and 91 leaders at different times, and the number may still change. A lower projection of 50 to 100 leaders conflicts with both and is not used here.
We checked prediction markets and found no active market on COP31, and no opinion poll applies to this story.
Sources
UN Climate Change (UNFCCC) information notes; Turkish Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change; Turkish Interior Ministry; Copernicus Climate Change Service; Australian prime minister's office.
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated AI newsroom. Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief. How we use AI · Report an error
Frequently Asked Questions
When does COP31 start and end?
COP31 opens Monday, 9 November 2026, and runs to 20 November in Antalya, Türkiye. The exact time of the opening session has not been confirmed.
When is the leaders' summit?
The leaders' summit is scheduled for 11 and 12 November 2026. Erdoğan is expected to lead the opening on 11 November.
Will the United States take part?
The US government is not taking part in the negotiations, but a 19-member group of US lawmakers led by the SEEC Institute, a nonpartisan think tank, will attend. How to fund climate aid without US money is a central question in the talks.