World leaders are due to set out their climate priorities in speeches at the United Nations COP31 summit in Antalya on Wednesday, as host Turkey pushes for a new COP31 climate deal centred on electrification and Australia, as President of Negotiations, steers talks aimed at reviving stalled efforts to move away from fossil fuels.
Featured image: Murat Kurum, COP31 president, speaks at a conference in Paris on 30 April 2026. Photo: Ludovic Marin/AFP via Getty Images.
Delegates from nearly 200 countries are meeting in the Mediterranean resort city as global greenhouse gas emissions show little sign of falling, and as wars, inflation and other crises compete for political attention, Reuters reported.
A United Nations report last month found the world was on course to break through the 1.5 degrees Celsius warming limit that countries agreed to pursue under the Paris Agreement, in an effort to prevent the worst effects of climate change.
Former French Prime Minister Laurent Fabius, who presided over the 2015 Paris climate conference and leads an advisory council of former COP presidents, said the speeches could give political impetus to the talks.
“It is an opportunity for leaders to make some announcements, and more this time, to explain how they will implement, because the key word in Antalya is implementation,” he told Reuters.
According to the COP31 schedule, scores of world leaders, including presidents and heads of government, will begin their rapid-fire speeches on Wednesday afternoon and continue through Thursday.
Wednesday’s speakers are expected to include Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who was re-elected at the end of October and whose country hosted last year’s climate talks; European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen; Chinese Vice President Han Zheng; and Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who flew to Turkey for the leaders’ summit, is also expected to speak at the opening of the leaders’ segment, The Guardian reported. It would be the first time an Australian prime minister has attended a COP summit since Scott Morrison in 2021, according to AAP. Republic of Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides, who arrived in Antalya on Tuesday evening, is among the speakers at the high-level segment, the Cyprus News Agency said.
The United States, described by Reuters as the world’s largest historical emitter, has skipped the talks for a second year running. President Donald Trump, who has called global warming a hoax, withdrew the United States from climate cooperation after returning to office in 2025.
Australia’s role at COP31
Australia and Turkey both bid to host COP31. Under a compromise reached at COP30 in Belem, Brazil, in November 2025, Turkey is hosting the conference and the World Leaders Summit in Antalya and holds the COP31 presidency, while Australia serves as President of Negotiations, with exclusive authority to lead the formal talks, in consultation with Turkey.
Australia’s Climate Change and Energy Minister, Chris Bowen, holds that role. He addressed the opening plenary in Antalya on Tuesday, saying Australia was “proud to serve as President of Negotiations in our partnership with Türkiye” and urging countries to move faster on climate action.
A Pacific pre-COP, agreed as part of the same arrangement, was held in October. Fiji hosted the pre-COP meetings and Tuvalu hosted a leaders’ event from 5 to 8 October, according to Australia’s Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. Albanese attended the Fiji gathering before travelling to this week’s leaders’ summit in Antalya.
Turkey’s electrification proposal
Turkey, as host of COP31, has been pushing government representatives at the conference to place a goal on electrification at the centre of a final deal, even as critics say it may do little to curb warming.
The proposal targets a rise in electricity’s share of total global energy consumption to 35% by 2035, up from a little over a fifth now. In theory, that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions from cars, factories and buildings.
The plan does not, however, include language requiring that new power be generated from clean energy sources. World governments have also yet to set out a broader plan to transition away from fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas.
“It is long past time to stop treating the transition away from fossil fuels as taboo or intractable,” United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the conference on Tuesday, urging countries to produce clear timelines for the transition.
The previous COP, held in Brazil, was unable to reach consensus on the need for a global plan to reduce dependency on fossil fuels. In recent weeks, however, the Brazilian COP presidency has published a roadmap intended to keep that idea at the centre of the negotiations. It asks countries first to plan and assess their energy systems by 2028, then to work together to reduce fossil fuel supply from 2031.
Greece at the talks
Greece is taking part in COP31 under Environment and Energy Minister Stavros Papastavrou, who is leading the Greek delegation, according to To Vima. The delegation’s priorities centre on European energy and climate policies, as well as the diplomatic dimension of the conference. Powergame reported that Papastavrou has been discussing European climate priorities with EU Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra.
Papastavrou has already spoken publicly on Cyprus’s participation. At the EU Environment Council in Luxembourg on 25 June, he said Greece fully supported Hoekstra’s condemnation of Turkey’s attempt to exclude the Republic of Cyprus from informal COP31 preparatory processes. “The participation of all 27 Member States is both self-evident and non-negotiable. Either all 27 or none,” he said, according to Proto Thema.
Cyprus’s invitation and attendance
Christodoulides arrived in Antalya on Tuesday evening for the leaders’ summit, the Cyprus Mail reported. He travelled via Rhodes because Turkey does not recognise the Republic of Cyprus, so a direct flight was not possible. The Cyprus News Agency said he would be among the speakers at the high-level segment, and would set out Cyprus’s support for the common European position on climate ambition and the Paris Agreement.
His attendance followed a months-long dispute over invitations. As Greek City Times reported in June, Cyprus was left out of some Turkey-organised preparatory meetings, and the European Union warned that excluding a member state was unacceptable. Politico had earlier reported, citing diplomats, that Turkey objected when Cypriot officials tried to attend a March briefing in New York with the EU delegation. Turkish diplomatic sources later told Reuters that Cypriot delegations had been invited to all COP31 events under UN coordination.
In October, Kathimerini reported that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had sent personal invitation letters to the leaders of the other 26 EU member states for the leaders’ meeting, leaving Cyprus out. A Cypriot government source then told the Cyprus News Agency that Cyprus had received an invitation after “systematic and coordinated” diplomatic efforts by Nicosia, with the support of European institutions and EU member states. The source would not say who sent the invitation. Kathimerini later reported that the letter was an unsigned email sent to all 27 EU members through Brussels by the COP31 organising authority, rather than a personal invitation from Erdogan.
Christodoulides confirmed on 13 October that he would attend, as Greek City Times reported at the time. “Of course I will attend. The Republic of Cyprus always attends these summits. I am pleased that, thanks to the decisive contribution of our partners, and following our diplomatic and political efforts conducted away from the public eye, we have achieved a result,” he said.
Source: Reuters. Australia’s role: Australian Government joint media release