Türkiye to host COP31 after deal with Australia

ISTANBUL

Türkiye will host next year’s COP31 climate summit in the Mediterranean resort city of Antalya after Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the withdrawal of Canberra’s bid.

“What has been agreed is that (Climate Change Minister) Chris Bowen, Australia, will be COP President for Negotiations. The conference and the COP Presidency will go to Türkiye, and there'll be a pre-COP meeting, particularly focusing on climate financing in the Pacific, the Pacific Resilience Facility, in the lead up to COP next year, held in the Pacific,” Albanese told the Australian public broadcaster ABC Radio Perth.

He labelled the agreement as “a big win for both Australia and Türkiye.”

“The rules of the climate conferences are that they’ve got to be done by consensus,” he said. “If it wasn’t a consensus, then it would have gone to Bonn in Germany.”