Thousands march in Antalya, calling out COP31's lack of climate ambition

Antalya: Midway through COP31, civil society activists held a protest march in Antalya on Saturday over concerns that despite growing evidence of the devastation wrought by climate change, the first week of the UN climate talks was "heavy on rhetoric but painfully short on ambition".

Thousands of demonstrators marched peacefully from Aydin Kanza Park to Republic Square in central Antalya, expressing disappointment that while world leaders recognise that average global temperatures are set to increase by more than 1.5 degree Celsius, there is no plan on how to accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels, protect ecosystems and deliver the climate finance needed to make it happen and support communities to adapt.

The protest, itself a novelty in Turkiye as the government frequently bans large gatherings, particularly demonstrations critical of the regime, saw more than 100 civil society organisations, political parties and worker associations march in support of urgent climate action. Meanwhile, at the Antalya Expo Centre, the venue for the COP31 talks, which are being held from November 9-20, negotiators worked ahead of the midpoint stocktaking to resolve as many technical issues as possible, leaving the political and more difficult issues for the ministers who take over the talks next week.


UN Climate executive secretary Simon Stiell called on negotiators to "move swiftly to the hardest issues and to avoid tactical delays". Reminding negotiators that while each country has a view and a voice, he said there is "no collective success" without compromise from every country.

The first week also saw the experimental leadership arrangement of Turkiye as COP31 president and Australia as president of negotiations. Australian environment minister Chris Bowen, who is the president of negotiations, said that the partnership was "working exceedingly well". "Our teams are working in close collaboration down the line," he said, adding that he was happy with the division of labour as it allowed him to concentrate on negotiations.

A concern is whether the cover decision, a presidency-led overarching negotiated declaration, will include key and contested issues such as the transition away from fossil fuels, the alignment of the IPCC Seventh Assessment Report with the global stocktaking and the overshoot of the degree Celsius temperature guardrails, and whether it will mention the roadmaps prepared by the COP30 presidency Brazil. There are concerns that some countries are pushing back against including references to transitioning away from fossil fuels. Bowen said that these issues were still being discussed and that a draft cover decision would likely be ready early next week.

Meanwhile, COP 31 president Murat Kurum said that while it is up to the countries to decide what is included, as far as the presidency is concerned, the issue of "transitioning away from fossil fuels" has been resolved. He said that countries decided at previous climate talks to transition away from fossil fuels and the focus at COP31 should be on implementation. "This has been stipulated; there is no change in our position" he said, adding that Turkiye, as COP31 president, sees electrification as the main driver of implementing the COP28 decision to transition away from fossil fuels.