New emissions warnings, a deadlock at the IPCC, contested climate finance and essential preparations before coming to Antalya.
Three weeks remain before COP31. The UN's new emissions report warns how narrow the path back to 1.5°C has become. In the same week, governments could not agree on a timetable for the scientific assessments that help guide international climate action. The IPCC meeting in Addis Ababa ended without an agreement.
The Antalya summit is approaching amid these tensions. The European Union has adopted a joint negotiating position, while climate finance sought by poorer countries remains in dispute. As Türkiye prepares to chair COP31, its Environment Ministry's August appeal against a court ruling cancelling environmental approval for additional coal units remains politically contentious. Floods that killed four people in Istanbul have also brought the consequences of climate adaptation and urban planning into sharp focus.
This issue covers climate science, diplomacy, finance and preparations for organisations coming to Antalya. COP31Radar also supports organisations attending COP31 with climate communications, meeting and event planning, and local arrangements in Antalya. You can still get in touch, even at this late stage.
At COP27 and COP28, climate claims faced scrutiny over plastic pollution, emissions targets and the documents behind them. Before Antalya, take another close look at what your own reports say.
Read the full analysis ↗The nomination period for representatives of NGOs and IGOs admitted by the UNFCCC closed on 10 August. Those nominated on time have until 8 November at 23:59 CET to confirm registration; separate rules apply to Party and UN delegations. Badge collection begins 3 November. Use of free meeting rooms for official meetings in the Blue Zone is limited to 55 minutes per organisation per day, with at least five participants. UNFCCC participant information.
Visitor registration continues for COP31's publicly accessible Green Zone. The programme includes exhibitions, talks, workshops and gatherings involving civil society, universities and businesses. Blue Zone accreditation is not required. The host country's FAQ says admission is generally free, although advance registration is required in most cases. Registration information appears in the COP31 visitor guide, while the Green Zone page describes the programme.
The Climate Action Innovation Zone takes place on 10–11 November at the Sueno Hotels Deluxe Belek Convention & Meeting Center. Its programme includes the Sustainable Innovation Forum, sessions on climate finance and electrification, roundtables and spaces for bilateral meetings. The event uses its own organiser-run registration system. Programme and registration information.
The official COP31 conference is at Antalya EXPO Center, while some independent meetings take place in Belek and elsewhere in the city. UNFCCC complimentary shuttles will serve stops associated with hotels listed on the official accommodation platform; participants staying elsewhere may need to travel to the nearest stop themselves. An official transport map is available. Daily UNFCCC sessions, Green Zone events and independent programmes are published by different organisers. UNFCCC conference schedule · COP31 transport information.
The lowest-overshoot pathway in the new Emissions Gap Report has global warming peaking around 1.7–1.8°C. Global greenhouse gas emissions would need to fall 45% below 2025 levels by 2035 to follow that pathway. Current national plans fall far short. UNEP.
The meeting in Addis Ababa was suspended without a timetable for the seventh major climate assessment. Representatives of the Marshall Islands criticised the impasse. The availability of up-to-date science for the 2028 global stocktake remains at issue. Reuters.
The Council agreed conclusions calling for faster implementation of the Paris Agreement and stronger emissions action. A draft reported by Reuters that day contained no new finance commitments, signalling a difficult discussion with developing countries in Antalya. EU Council · Reuters.
Development finance came under scrutiny at the IMF–World Bank meetings. OECD preliminary figures published in April show official development assistance fell 23.1% in real terms in 2025. UNCTAD puts developing countries' external debt at US$12.3 trillion in 2025. Reuters · OECD · UNCTAD.
Heavy rainfall inundated streets, homes and businesses. The Associated Press reported four deaths and thousands of damage notifications by 17 October. The disaster has brought the host country's agenda on climate-resilient cities into focus. Associated Press.
Environmental activists rallied against new oil and gas exploration at Africa Energy Week in Cape Town. As investors gathered to promote more fossil fuel development, activists demanded a different energy future ahead of COP31. Associated Press.
UNEP's latest report shows the road back to 1.5°C narrowing. Governments now face much steeper emissions cuts.
The UN Environment Programme's report of 14 October gives the emissions crisis a stark numerical frame. Current national climate plans do not put the world on a pathway consistent with 1.5°C. Even the lowest-overshoot pathway assessed in the report sees global temperatures reach 1.7–1.8°C before falling again. Returning towards 1.5°C would require rapid emissions reductions and substantial removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Global emissions would need to fall 18% by 2030, 45% by 2035 and 69% by 2040, compared with 2025. These numbers describe the cuts required along that pathway. They are far beyond what current national commitments deliver.
Governments are considering new clean-energy investment and electrification policies while many still maintain policies that support continued fossil fuel use. Progress in power generation and transport is possible; workable climate policies are already delivering reductions in some countries. The report also highlights the potential to expand those successful policies. But every new long-lived fossil fuel asset makes the transition harder.
The electrification and investment initiatives heading to Antalya will be judged against this reality. Their political value depends on how quickly they reduce emissions. Access to finance and technology will shape whether countries with fewer resources can deliver those changes at the necessary scale.
The IPCC could not agree a report timetable in Addis Ababa. Small island states are demanding science in time to inform decisions.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change left Addis Ababa without a timetable for its next major assessment. Governments remain divided over whether the report can be completed in time to inform the 2028 global stocktake. The meeting was suspended on 16 October, with further discussions expected.
There are two substantial concerns behind the dispute. Some governments want the latest science available before the 2028 assessment of collective progress. Small island states see the timing as urgent, given the risks they face. Others argue that researchers and scientific institutions in less-resourced countries need more time and support to participate properly. The persistent under-representation of scientists from the Global South deserves a serious response.
Yet an unresolved timetable also weakens the scientific foundation available to the countries already experiencing the most severe climate impacts. The Marshall Islands' climate envoy, Tina Stege, strongly criticised the outcome. Better scientific representation requires funding, research capacity and more inclusive working arrangements. Prolonged procedural deadlock will not deliver those improvements.
The dispute will travel with delegates to Antalya. At a time when the science calls for faster action, governments are struggling to organise the production of shared scientific evidence on a schedule that serves vulnerable countries.
The EU has settled its negotiating position as poorer countries face heavier debt burdens and shrinking development aid.
The EU Council adopted conclusions for COP31 on 12 October, calling for science-based emissions cuts and faster implementation of the Paris Agreement. An earlier draft reported by Reuters had proposed extending the UN mitigation work programme and accelerating practical measures, but included no new EU finance commitments.
Developing countries are bringing a much more difficult financial reality to the negotiations. According to the OECD's preliminary figures released in April, global official development assistance contracted by 23.1% in real terms in 2025, the largest annual fall on record. UNCTAD estimates developing countries' external debt at US$12.3 trillion. Rising debt-service pressures compete with adaptation projects, clean-energy infrastructure and basic public services.
Climate finance is a separate accounting category from general development assistance, though the cuts affect many of the same countries, budgets and institutions. Existing international climate contributions also remain significant. The unresolved debate concerns their scale, terms and accessibility.
There is an immediate question of fairness when communities that have contributed least to the climate crisis must borrow on expensive terms to protect themselves from it. Antalya's finance debate will be shaped by the share of funding that arrives as grants, the debt burden attached to loans and the time it takes for resources to reach local implementation.
EU Council · Reuters · OECD · UNCTAD.
As host of COP31, Türkiye faces difficult questions about coal expansion and decisions that affect communities and public health.
After the Istanbul floods, Türkiye's environment minister Murat Kurum spoke about climate adaptation and construction in vulnerable areas. The Associated Press reported four deaths and thousands of damage notifications on 17 October. The disaster brought the consequences of urban development and public investment into national view.
Türkiye's climate record ahead of COP31 also includes a long-running conflict over coal. In July, a court cancelled environmental approval for two proposed units at the Afşin-Elbistan A coal power plant in Kahramanmaraş. The court found that the project's environmental and health impacts had not been adequately addressed. In August, the Environment Ministry and project company appealed to the Council of State. The ministry argued that the environmental impact process had considered the risks and that the investment was in the public interest because of energy security. Environmental groups and local residents say further expansion would deepen longstanding damage to health and ecosystems.
This case dates from earlier in the year and carries growing political significance as Türkiye prepares to chair COP31. We have not independently confirmed any later ruling on the appeal. The presidency is promoting electrification and voluntary waste initiatives, while civil society organisations continue to call for a timetable to move away from coal. In June, 94 civil society organisations from Türkiye and Australia urged the co-presidencies to place the transition away from fossil fuels at the centre of the summit.
Türkiye's claim to climate leadership will face scrutiny through its choices at home as well as its diplomacy in Antalya. The health and livelihoods of communities living near coal facilities belong in that discussion.
AP, Istanbul floods · bianet, Afşin-Elbistan appeal, 4 August · Greenpeace Türkiye, environmental ruling · 94 organisations' joint call.
Türkiye and Australia convened an online discussion seeking Parties' views on priority outcomes for COP31. UNFCCC.
Climate Action Network expressed disappointment after the Addis Ababa meeting ended without agreement on the review timetable. CAN.
Negotiations on nature protection and land use will have implications for climate policy, although this is a separate UN process. EU Council.
The COP31 presidency aims to halve the growth of global waste generation by 2035. The proposed platform will operate outside the formal negotiations. Folha.
COP27 and COP28 offer sharp examples of how companies’ climate messaging can collide with their own public records. Read the full analysis →
Reuters examined how increasing temperatures affect Mediterranean turtle populations. Reuters.
Rapid emissions cuts, climate finance and a transition away from fossil fuels will remain central points of pressure in Antalya. Campaigners are linking scientific evidence, representation of vulnerable communities and demands for meaningful negotiation outcomes.
The Istanbul floods have renewed attention to vulnerable neighbourhoods, public infrastructure and the protection of residents. The resources available to municipalities will be part of the wider debate about adaptation finance.
Electrification, waste and climate solutions will receive considerable attention at COP31. Public scrutiny will also follow real emissions reductions, fossil fuel dependence and the social consequences of proposed projects.
With three weeks to go, climate movements are spelling out their expectations. Following the Pacific Pre-COP, Climate Action Network International criticised governments’ limited progress on adaptation finance, moving away from fossil fuels and a fair transition. CAN is calling for a Belém–Antalya Just Transition Mechanism capable of supporting workers and communities through the changes ahead.
With three weeks to go, climate movements are spelling out their expectations. Following the Pacific Pre-COP, Climate Action Network International criticised governments’ limited progress on adaptation finance, moving away from fossil fuels and a fair transition. CAN is calling for a Belém–Antalya Just Transition Mechanism capable of supporting workers and communities through the changes ahead.
The demand for climate finance reaches well beyond the negotiations. A joint appeal published by Amnesty International and signed by nearly 150 civil society organisations calls on wealthy countries with greater historical responsibility to bring new, multi-year finance commitments to Antalya. Countries already facing heavy debt payments cannot protect their populations if every additional adaptation investment brings another repayment burden.
CAN Europe has also criticised the EU’s position adopted on 12 October, arguing that it lacks a concrete path for a fair fossil fuel phase-out and more adaptation finance. These are civil-society demands directed at governments, and they make clear where political pressure will come from at COP31. The emissions gap identified by UNEP adds urgency to the debate.
New partnerships, platforms and voluntary initiatives will fill the conference programme. COP31Radar will follow how decisions affect fossil fuel use, public finance and the lives of communities already living with climate damage.
Biodiversity COP17, 19–30 October: Will negotiations in Yerevan advance nature protection and finance?
IPCC: When will talks resume on the next assessment timetable?
COP31 diplomacy: How will other negotiating groups respond to the EU position, especially on finance?
Antalya: Which programme, transport and participant-platform details will be confirmed next?
Thousands of people from around the world will arrive in Antalya in the coming weeks. Some will seek new partnerships to cut emissions; others will negotiate on behalf of communities already experiencing climate harm. Climate campaigners will be asking why commitments to move away from fossil fuels are still being delayed. From Antalya, we will follow the decisions made here and what they mean for people's lives.
We also help organisations preparing for COP31 with meeting and event planning, climate communications and local coordination in Antalya. Explore COP31Radar's services →
COP31Radar Weekly is an independent publication from Antalya, prepared by Social Institute of Change and Impact (SICI). It is not an official communication channel of the UNFCCC or the COP31 host-country administration.