COP31 opens amid energy crisis as activists demand climate action
COP31 has opened in Turkiye amid war-driven energy disruptions and a renewed reliance on fossil fuels. While delegates discuss electrification and climate action, activists outside the summit are demanding an end to greenwashing and a shift away from industrial agriculture.
As the UN Climate Change Conference (COP31) officially opened in Antalya, Turkey, delegates gathered against the backdrop of escalating extreme weather driven by a climate change-fueled Super El Niño. Chair of the Africa Group of Negotiators (AGN) on Climate Change, Nana Dr. Antwi-Boasiako Amoah, has emphasized that African nations find themselves on the front lines of a catastrophe they did not create.
The climate emergency, meanwhile, continued to wreak havoc this year as punishing heatwaves baked Europe, wildfires raged in Indonesia, and a glacier collapse triggered devastating floods in Nepal. The European Union has called for “clean” electrification, a term that could spark debate over the role of fossil fuels in the Turkish proposal.
YouGov survey finds support for tree planting and emissions taxes but opposition to air travel and fuel levies Europe live – latest updates Europeans believe human-made climate change is real, a survey has shown, with most feeling action must be taken soon – as long as they do not have to sacrifice too much to achieve it. The YouGov poll of six European countries showed between 69% (Germany) and 80% (France) of respondents believed the climate was changing, with few (1%-4%) denying it and 14-20% believing it was changing, but not as a result of human activity.
The summit comes after a year of punishing heatwaves in Europe, major wildfires in Indonesia and catastrophic floods in Nepal, with an exceptionally strong El Nino weather phenomenon fuelling more climate chaos. The two sides have celebrated their cooperation so far, with COP31 President Murat Kurum, who is also Turkey’s environment minister, and Australian Climate Minister Chris Bowen raising their clasped hands above their heads to applause during the opening ceremony.
COP31 puts climate finance, fossil fuel transition, energy ambitions to test. The COP31 summit comes at a critical time, as countries face increasing pressure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and accelerate investment in clean energy.
UN climate summit will focus on how to implement the targets needed to urgently cut greenhouse gas emissions What is at stake at the UN climate summit and what can it achieve? Though Turkey is hosting, Australia will preside over the formal agenda of negotiations, under a compromise agreed last year when both countries bid for the right to hold the meeting.