Belem, the Brazilian city where COP30 is held (photo Parallax / Alamy / Profimedia)
Turkey will host the major COP31 climate summit in 2026 after Australia withdrew its bid. The confirmation was made during the COP30 conference that is being held in Brazil and is about to end.
Turkey will host the UN climate summit in 2026 and Australia will lead negotiations at the intergovernmental conference under a compromise agreement agreed in Brazil on Thursday, Reuters writes. As a summit with tens of thousands of participants, the host country needs a lot of preparation time. There are 56,000 participants at COP30.
The annual COP conferences are the main global forum for driving climate action, but in recent years they have also been held in countries dependent on oil and gas, and lobbying by these industries has been strong.
An InfoClima.ro analysis explains that for Turkey it is an opportunity to reposition itself in climate diplomacy, at a time when many of the processes launched in Belém must be transformed into clear results. “As a G20 actor, located between Europe, the Middle East and the Caucasus, Turkey will have the responsibility to facilitate agreements in a tense geopolitical context and maintain pressure on actual implementation,” the quoted analysis said.
As COP30 in Belém (Brazil) enters its final days of negotiations, it is becoming increasingly clear that this edition is taking place in an unprecedented context, and the dominant theme is the transition away from fossil fuels, the analysis also says.
Political advance, but no clear direction
InfoClima.ro notes that the dominant theme of COP30 remained the operationalization of the formulation adopted in Dubai regarding the transition from fossil fuels. For the first time, a significant coalition of 82 countries from Europe (including Romania), Africa, Latin America and the Pacific region calls for the adoption of an international process to establish a transition roadmap compatible with 1.5°C. The Guardian confirms that the draft text includes this option, which is rare in a first draft.
However, so far there is no consensus on the essential elements: deadlines, pace, differentiated responsibilities, funding. Most likely, COP30 will launch a formal process (TAFF Roadmap) with a mandate until COP31 and COP32, not a final timetable for the elimination of fossil fuels, writes the cited publication.
