The United Nations climate summit got under way in the Turkish resort city of Antalya on Monday, running slightly behind schedule after last-minute wrangling over how climate finance should appear on the agenda. Delegates now have until November 20 to turn a year of extreme weather and an energy shock into concrete decisions.
This year’s conference has an unusual double leadership. Turkey is the host, with its environment minister Murat Kurum as COP president, yet the job of steering the actual negotiating texts falls to an Australian, Chris Bowen. Kurum used the opening session to brand the gathering an “Implementation COP”, arguing that climate policy has become inseparable from food, energy, health and urban planning.
The headline idea already has a slogan. Under a proposed global electrification pledge, electricity would supply 35 percent of the world’s final energy use by 2035, up from about 23 percent today, according to analyst Kingsmill Bond of the think tank Ember, who told NPR that some are calling Antalya “the electrification COP”. Alongside it, the Turkish presidency unveiled a scheme to connect projects in need of funding or know-how with lenders and partners.
Bowen was blunt about the science. The world “will overshoot 1.5,” he said, but can still come back below that line through urgent, joint action. Still, he noted, the outlook has improved since 2015, with expected warming now estimated near 2.6C instead of close to 4C.
The talks unfold in the shadow of the war involving Iran, which has closed the Strait of Hormuz and pushed up oil and gas prices. Unlike earlier crises, analysts argue, this one hits at a time when solar panels, batteries and electric cars are cheap alternatives. Fossil fuel producers are again expected to resist firm phase-out language, while more than 25 countries are working on a separate treaty to wind down oil, gas and coal.
One major emitter is absent. The US State Department said Washington would not send a delegation, as it also skipped last year’s summit in Brazil.
