Nearly 200 nations — including India — have converged on the Mediterranean resort city of Antalya, Turkey, for the 31st Conference of the Parties (COP31) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which opened on Monday, 8 November 2026. The two-week summit, running until 20 November, centres on accelerating clean energy deployment, scaling up climate finance, and strengthening resilience in the face of mounting climate impacts.

The Stakes at COP31

This year's summit unfolds against a sobering scientific backdrop. The United Nations Environment Programme's (UNEP) 2026 Adaptation Gap Report — titled 'Ready? Not' — warns that global warming is set to exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius, adaptation finance falls far short of requirements, and losses and damages are mounting across vulnerable nations. The report finds that international public adaptation finance flows from developed to developing countries remain well below the estimated need of $305 billion annually by 2035.

Critically, even if the aspiration set at COP30 — to triple international public finance flows to developing countries by 2035 — is fully realised, it would cover only 20 to 29 per cent of what those countries actually need to manage intensifying climate impacts. This yawning gap between commitment and requirement frames much of the negotiating agenda in Antalya.

Governance Structure and Key Roles

Turkey holds the COP31 host Presidency and leads the global climate action agenda, while Australia has exclusive authority over the political negotiations. Minister Chris Bowen serves as President of Negotiations. The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) will support proceedings by providing authoritative scientific observations, including the launch of its flagship State of Climate Update 2026 on the summit's opening day — an annual science-based assessment of key climate indicators and their real-world impacts.

What Negotiators and Experts Expect

Progress at Antalya is expected to be incremental rather than transformative. UN climate chief Simon Stiell set the tone in September, saying: 'No single COP can fix this global crisis, but each takes meaningful steps forward.'

Ajay Mathur, India's Lead Negotiator at the Paris Agreement and former Director General of the International Solar Alliance, told reporters that adaptation finance remains a central but contested issue. 'If we want to hit $300 billion in adaptation finance by 2035, we need a clear baseline and a monitoring mechanism that reflects real needs on the ground. Public money has to go where markets can't — deep adaptation, urban resilience and small enterprise,' he said.

Mathur also highlighted Article 6 carbon markets as a critical lever. 'I look at Article 6 carbon markets not just as an accounting device, but as the honey, the nucleus around which international capital can flow for domestic decarbonisation. In India, we've now institutionalised this through our carbon market, the CCTS (Carbon Credit Trading Scheme). The key question now is how we make it work,' he added.

Aarti Khosla, Director of Climate Trends, characterised this as an extraordinary moment. 'We are not in an ordinary year. It's taking place against a backdrop of deep geopolitical fragmentation, cost-of-living pressures being felt across the world, and tightening national and international budgets,' she said. Khosla also flagged one of the strongest El Niño events seen this year — driving floods, droughts, wildfires, landslides, melting glaciers, and extreme heat — as an urgent physical reality facing negotiators. 'The latest science is unambiguous: we are in an era of overshoot, and exceeding 1.5 degree Celsius is now unavoidable,' she said.

Where Nations Stand on Climate Plans

The UN's annual review of national climate plans, released on 27 October, shows that 154 countries have lodged 2035 targets with the UN, covering 71 per cent of global emissions, excluding land use. The UN's own assessment offered a mixed verdict: 'The good is that the quality of plans is much better, legislation is tighter, tracking is clearer. The bad is that the progress in lowering projected emissions from the 1.5 degree Celsius targets remains substantially off track.'

Leading climate advocacy organisation Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe argues that the direction of travel has largely been agreed upon — what is missing is delivery: transitioning away from fossil fuels, scaling up renewable-powered electrification, operationalising a just transition, and channelling adequate finance to developing countries.

Spotlight Issues: Clean Cooking, Youth, and Solar

Beyond the high-level finance and emissions debates, COP31 will also put a spotlight on grassroots and youth dimensions of climate action. Nearly two billion people worldwide still lack access to clean cooking — a gap with direct consequences for climate, health, household costs, and livelihoods. Solar Cookers International (SCI) will present solar cooking as a scalable, practical solution at the summit.

The Children and Youth Pavilion (CYP), first established at COP27, returns as the only fully youth-led space within the UN Climate Conference. At COP31, it brings together 10 young spokespersons aged 14 to 31 from diverse backgrounds — spanning Indigenous climate advocacy, environmental research, policy, and community organising — to inject youth perspectives into formal negotiations.

Whether Antalya delivers a credible step change on finance and fossil fuel commitments, or ends as another round of deferred action, will be determined over the coming two weeks.