COP31 opens with leaders under pressure to tackle climate crisis

The COP31 climate talks kicked off Monday with an early fight over money as the U.N.'s chief urged world leaders to "get serious" about tackling the crisis after a year of devastating weather extremes.

More than 100,000 people are expected to attend COP31 in a sprawling expo center in the Mediterranean seaside city of Antalya.

Antonio Guterres made his plea as thousands of participants descended on a sprawling expo center in the Turkish Mediterranean city of Antalya for the U.N.'s annual two-week climate conference.

The summit comes after a year of punishing heat waves in Europe, major wildfires in Indonesia and catastrophic floods in Nepal, with an exceptionally strong El Nino weather phenomenon fueling more climate chaos.

"We have entered a new age of climate extremes," Guterres said in a statement.

The U.N. secretary-general urged leaders to "get serious by cutting emissions faster, accelerating a just transition from fossil fuels and delivering the finance and protection vulnerable countries need."

The COP31 opening ceremony began an hour and a half late without explanation.

Negotiators had been locked in discussions late Sunday over demands by developing nations to include items on climate finance in the official agenda.

Turkey's COP31 President Murat Kurum and Australian Climate Minister Chris Bowen clasped hands to applause at the opening.

"This has already been a difficult start for COP31," said Jasper Inventor, head of Greenpeace's COP31 delegation.

Under U.N. climate agreements, developed countries, which are historically responsible for most greenhouse gas emissions, have provided financial support to help developing nations adapt to climate impacts and transition to cleaner energy. But poorer countries say the sums remain insufficient.

Inventor said developed countries took a "hard line" over whether to include a platform, agreed at COP30 in Brazil last year, aimed at discussing how wealthy nations should provide funds to developing nations.

The "climate finance work program" was ultimately included in the agenda.

African countries had also pushed for the agenda to include the tripling of adaptation finance, which aims to help poorer nations pay for measures such as building seawalls or planting drought-resistant crops.

But that point was not made a standalone agenda item.

A senior European Union official warned last week that there would be "no political will" for extra funding pledges at COP31.

Observers expect few major breakthroughs at COP31 as countries grapple with an oil price shock and geopolitical tensions fueled by the U.S. war with Iran and Russia's conflict in Ukraine.

The long-term climate outlook is bleak: the United Nations warned in September that global temperatures were on course to exceed 1.5C above preindustrial levels, breaching the most ambitious threshold set by the Paris Agreement.

Fossil fuel fight

Turkey is presiding over COP31, with Australia leading negotiations under an unusual arrangement that settled a dispute over who would host the conference but raised concerns over how it would work.

The two sides have celebrated their cooperation so far, with COP31 President Murat Kurum, who is also Turkey's environment minister, and Australian Climate Minister Chris Bowen raising their clasped hands above their heads to applause during the opening ceremony.

The partners have branded the summit as the "implementation COP," focusing on turning commitments into concrete action after years of pledges and ambitious announcements.

"We know that delay carries one of the heaviest costs in climate action," Kurum said.

Turkey is inviting countries to join a voluntary "electrification" pledge to raise the share of global energy demand met by electricity from around 20% today to 35% by 2035.

'Clean' electrification?

But the initiative could become a source of friction.

The European Union has called for "clean" electrification, a term that could spark debate over the role of oil, gas and coal in the Turkish proposal.

Countries committed to transition away from fossil fuels in a landmark pact at COP28 in Dubai in 2023 but have struggled to agree on how to turn that pledge into action.