COP31, the annual United Nations climate summit, opened in Antalya, Turkiye, on Monday, with developing countries calling for faster implementation and fairer distribution of climate finance, while pointing out that climate justice must mean turning global commitments into concrete support for communities facing the worst impacts of a crisis they did little to cause.
Officially known as the 31st session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the conference will run through Nov 20 and is expected to focus on the implementation of national climate commitments, the delivery of the new climate finance goal agreed at COP29, climate adaptation and resilience, climate mitigation and a just transition.
Turkiye is projecting COP31 as an "Implementation COP", with the presidency seeking to move climate diplomacy from declarations and targets toward measurable action on the ground. It has framed its approach around a simple principle: "Commitment is a declaration of intent, but implementation is trust."
In his opening address at the conference, COP31 President Murat Kurum outlined Turkiye's vision based on three principles: dialogue, consensus and action. He said that COP31 should connect countries' needs with the capital, technology, knowledge and expertise required to address them.
"We want COP31 to deliver on that call as an Implementation COP," Kurum said, emphasizing that the final test of climate decisions would be whether they improve people's daily lives. He also called for narrowing the invisible gaps between countries that can secure finance and those that cannot, and between countries able to withstand climate shocks and those left highly exposed.
What makes this year's climate gathering special is that while Turkiye holds the COP31 presidency and is hosting the conference, Australia is co-leading the negotiations as "president of negotiations".
COP31 President of Negotiations Chris Bowen used the word "faster" seven times in his opening speech, underscoring his call for the international community to accelerate climate action and finance delivery.
"Climate change is here. It is not a forecast. It is not a prediction. It is the lived reality for billions of people," Bowen said.
He said that progress had been made since the Paris Agreement was adopted in 2015, but "we must move faster". He added that the conference must speed up the deployment of proven technologies, strengthen resilience and improve access to finance.
"The countries that need climate finance the most are getting it the least," Bowen said. "Finance must be disbursed faster. More simply. And more fairly."
Faster, fairer delivery
UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell described COP31 as part of "a new era of implementation". The task was to build on previous agreements while delivering progress faster, he said.
"COPs have traditionally sent signals," Stiell said. "But as well as sending signals, COP31 must supercharge solutions." These include solutions to triple adaptation finance, address the difficulties countries face in accessing committed finance, expand renewable energy and reduce methane emissions.
Stronger outcomes from the negotiations would help countries convert targets into real-world results, Stiell said. COP31 is also expected to advance implementation of the COP29 climate finance goal of at least $300 billion a year for developing countries by 2035, while working to scale up finance from all public and private sources toward at least $1.3 trillion annually.
For developing countries, however, implementation depends on whether finance reaches communities quickly and on fair terms.
Payai Manyok John, director for climate change and the national focal person for UNFCCC at South Sudan's Ministry of Environment and Forestry, said that vulnerable countries needed greater support from developed nations.
"We want to make sure that developed countries increase climate finance for the least developed countries, particularly for South Sudan and other highly vulnerable nations," he said.
He said South Sudan was developing adaptation and mitigation frameworks focused on smallholder farmers, early-warning systems and nature-based solutions. He emphasized that international decisions must move beyond negotiation rooms.
"Whatever negotiation that has come here has to be put into policies and also translated from policies to projects," he said.
During a recent news conference, Li Gao, China's vice-minister of ecology and environment and head of the Chinese delegation to COP31, said the conference should address the longstanding problems of insufficient emissions reduction and inadequate financial support from developed countries, while helping developing countries implement their nationally determined contributions.
Li also called for progress on a road map for developed countries to meet the $300 billion finance goal by 2035 and to triple adaptation finance. He said COP31 should advance the implementation of a just transition mechanism and help narrow the gap between developed and developing countries.
For East Africa, where droughts and floods are already damaging livelihoods, the demand is immediate.
Rukiya Khamis, East Africa program manager at 350.org, an international climate organization, said: "Across East Africa people are facing the devastating impacts of a climate crisis they did not cause." She added that COP31 must make climate justice a reality. "That means delivering the finance communities need and making fossil fuel companies pay their fair share, rather than asking ordinary people to foot the bill.
"We can't wait until COP32 in Ethiopia to fix what needs fixing now. By the time countries arrive in Addis Ababa next year, we should be negotiating deadlines and binding targets, not vague promises full of 'ifs' and 'maybes'."
Xinhua contributed to this story.
