COP31: Protesters, UN urge swift climate deal

The United Nations' top climate official urged negotiators at the COP31 climate summit in Turkey to "avoid tactical delays" that would prevent a deal to stop global warming.

Delegates from more than 200 nations are gathered in the Mediterranean city of Antalya with the core goal of preventing the planet from warming by 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit).

Downtown, thousands of civil society and environmental activists from around the world protested against the consequences of climate change.

Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), said getting an agreement is "tough but vital work."

"There ​is no collective success without compromise from every party," he added.

"As we head into the second week, ​I urge ‌parties to move swiftly to the hardest issues and to avoid tactical delays."

With inflation, wars, deindustrialization and debt being seen as bigger immediate threats, many governments are watering down their commitments to the clean energy transition, along with the billions required to help developing nations to adapt.

The United ⁠States has snubbed the talks ​for the second year in a row under President Donald Trump, who has called global warming a hoax and promoted continued use of fossil fuels

Delegates also face pressure from large fossil-fuel-producing nations to avoid setting stricter targets for a faster phase-out of oil and gas.

Climate advocates in Antalya are growing increasingly frustrated by the lack of commitment and delaying tactics preventing an ambitious deal.

COP31 is seeking to unlock finance and investment, reduce the use of so-called super-pollutants and methane and ensure food security.

Host Turkey is, meanwhile, pushing a plan to expand global electrification. Yet, some environmental groups are disappointed the proposal doesn't push increased electricity use from renewable sources.

A UN report last month warned that, within a few years, the world is set to exceed the 1.5 degrees Celsius warming threshold, set in Paris in 2015.

This is the figure most scientists believe should stop the worst effects of climate change.

A first draft of a deal text is expected to emerge next week, according to Australia's ​COP31 President of Negotiations Chris Bowen.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of protesters marched through Antalya on Saturday for climate protection and human rights, according to the organizers.

Many were dismayed at the lack of progress and how the climate crisis is taking a back seat.

"The pursuit of profit at all costs continues to set the [global] agenda [and] govern the trajectory of our world, so there is a need to push back," environmental activist Zaki Mamdoo from South Africa told DW.

Luisa Nebauer, the main organizer of Germany's Fridays for Future movement, lamented that Chancellor Friedrich Merz was absent from the conference, along with several other European leaders.

"We won't have a chance to solve any of the crises as long as our planet is destabilizing by the hour," Nebauer told DW. "We must show up!"

Turkish authorities permitted the rally to go ahead, in a country that often bans large public gatherings.

Alongside the march, a parallel "People's Climate Summit" involving hundreds of domestic and international civil society groups takes place in Antalya this weekend.