Representatives of more than 190 countries will gather in Antalya, Türkiye, from Nov. 9 to 20 for COP31, the latest annual United Nations climate conference. The United Nations said scientists have confirmed that the world is on track to exceed the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C warming threshold. It also said a powerful El Niño is expected to intensify climate impacts further.
The conference comes as clean energy technologies advance while many countries still struggle to afford them, according to UN News. The United Nations said catastrophic floods, deadly heatwaves and prolonged droughts have marked 2026. Fossil fuels remain the main driver of warming emissions, it said, even as solar power, electric vehicles and battery storage become more accessible.
COP means Conference of the Parties, the countries that are parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change. The annual meetings let governments assess progress and negotiate on a problem no nation can solve alone, UN News reported. The talks produced the Paris Agreement in 2015, when countries committed to keeping global warming well below 2°C and to pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
Türkiye will host and preside, while Australia is leading the negotiations, working closely with Pacific Island countries, UN News reported. The summit places particular emphasis on implementation. Türkiye is promoting initiatives on clean energy, food security, resilient cities, greener industries, oceans and waste reduction.
Selwin Hart, the U.N. special adviser on climate action and just transition, told UN News that the conferences can matter through negotiated agreements, practical cooperation and announcements of action at home. “There’s sometimes this expectation that COPs will always have this big grand deal that will solve the climate crisis. That’s not realistic,” Hart said.
Several major issues remain unresolved, according to UN News. Developing countries want wealthier nations to fulfil financial commitments under the Paris Agreement, while disagreements persist over funding responsibilities, access to finance and how global financial flows can be directed toward climate action. Countries agreed last year to establish a mechanism to support the shift to cleaner economies, but they still need to decide how it will work.
Negotiators will continue work on measuring progress on adaptation as developing countries press for greater financial support, UN News reported. Governments remain divided over how to strengthen action to cut emissions and how to deliver on existing commitments. COP31 will also launch the second global stocktake, the Paris Agreement’s formal process for assessing collective progress toward its long-term goals.
Scientists warn that the world is set to temporarily exceed the 1.5°C threshold, a situation known as overshoot, the United Nations said. How far temperatures rise, and for how long, still depends on choices by governments, businesses and societies, according to the account. “Overshoot is not surrender,” Hart said.
Hart pointed to growth in electric vehicles, solar energy and battery storage. Ten years ago, fewer than one in 100 new cars sold worldwide was electric, UN News reported. In 2025, it was one in four, and that share is expected to reach 28 per cent in 2026.
The world added more than 600 gigawatts of solar power capacity in 2025, accounting for over three-quarters of new renewable power capacity, the United Nations said. Global battery storage capacity is now 11 times higher than in 2021. In 2025 alone, the world added 108 GW, 40 per cent more than the previous year.
Emerging and developing economies outside China, home to nearly two-thirds of the world’s population, received 18 per cent of global clean energy investment in 2025, according to UN News. Around 600 million people in Africa still lack access to electricity, while the continent attracts only a small share of global investment despite enormous renewable energy potential.
Hart said financing renewable energy projects in developing countries can cost several times more than in wealthier nations, even when the technology is identical. For countries already struggling with heavy debt, governments have limited resources to invest in healthcare, education and climate protection, UN News reported. He said finance solutions should not increase debt.
COP31 will not solve the climate crisis in two weeks, UN News said. It could help remove some of the barriers between solutions already available and the people who need them.