Türkiye to host COP31 after compromise with Australia

The COP31 climate conference is now expected to take place Türkiye after Australia withdrew from hosting the annual event.

According to United Nations rules, the right to host the 2026 Conference of the Parties belongs to Western Europe, Australia and other countries.

A consensus must be reached, but neither country is willing to budge. Australia has now agreed to support Turkey’s bid in exchange for its ministers chairing negotiations following the COP30 conference currently being held in Brazil.

This unusual arrangement surprised observers. It is normal for the COP President to come from the host country, and it remains to be seen how this new partnership will work in practice.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called the compromise with Turkey an “outstanding outcome” in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and noted that Pacific issues would be “front and center”.

He added that he had spoken to Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape and Fiji Prime Minister Rabuka.

However, Papua New Guinea’s Foreign Minister Justin Tkachenko told AFP “we are all unhappy. And disappointed that it has turned out this way”.

Solomon Islands leader Jeremiah Manell earlier told the ABC he would be “disappointed” if Australia failed to secure the tournament.

Still, countries at the 30th Conference of the Parties (COP30), currently taking place in the Brazilian city of Belém, will breathe a sigh of relief as a compromise was reached as the lack of agreement on the venue, which has become an embarrassment to the United Nations, was reached.

Australia has pushed hard for a climate summit in Adelaide, saying they would co-host the event with Pacific island nations seen as most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and rising sea levels.

Turkey offered to host COP31 in the city of Antalya, but they believe they have a strong case to be the host as they backed away from their position in 2021 to allow the UK to hold the conference in Glasgow.

If neither country is willing to compromise, the meeting will be held in the German city of Bonn, the headquarters of the United Nations climate agency.

Based on the outcome of the discussions at COP30, a compromise seems to have been reached.

These include that the pre-COP meeting will be held in the Pacific Islands, while the main event will be held in Türkiye. Australian Climate Minister Chris Bowen will chair.

“Obviously it would be great if Australia could have it all, but we can’t have it all,” Bowen told reporters outside the Australian delegation’s office in Belen.

“The process requires consensus, and consensus means that if someone objects to our bid, our bid will go to Bonn.”

“It would mean no leadership, no COP chair, no plan for 12 months, which would be irresponsible for multilateralism in this challenging environment.”

Mr Bowen believed that a COP president from a non-host country would work and that he would retain considerable powers as president of those meetings.

“As COP negotiating chair, I will have all the powers of a COP president to manage, handle negotiations, appoint co-facilitators, prepare draft texts, issue cover decisions,” he said.

He also confirmed to the BBC that Türkiye will also appoint a president who will be responsible for managing the venue, organizing meetings and scheduling.

Australia’s concession would be an embarrassment to Albanese’s government after long and hard lobbying to win support from other countries in the Western European bloc.

The compromise must be approved by the more than 190 countries attending COP30.

Given the difficulty of reaching such a compromise, it is unlikely that anyone will object.