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November 8, 2026

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The Antalya coast, Türkiye
World

COP31 Opens in Antalya: The ‘Implementation COP’ and What It Means for Pakistan

Faizan Altaf

The world’s biggest climate meeting opens today. COP31, the 31st United Nations climate conference, begins on Monday, 9 November 2026, in Antalya, Türkiye, and runs until 20 November. Tens of thousands of delegates, ministers, scientists and activists are gathering at the Antalya Expo Center for two weeks of talks that will decide how the world turns years of climate promises into real action.

This year is different. For the first time, two countries are running the conference together: Türkiye is hosting and presiding over it, while Australia is leading the formal negotiations. And organisers are being honest about what to expect. There will probably be no big, headline-grabbing deal. Instead, COP31 is being called the “implementation COP” — a meeting about doing what was already promised, rather than making new promises.

What is COP31?

COP stands for “Conference of the Parties”. The “parties” are the nearly 200 countries that signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the treaty that governs global climate action. Every year since the first COP in Berlin in 1995, these countries have met to negotiate how to cut emissions, help vulnerable nations adapt, and pay for the damage climate change is already causing.

COP31 is the 31st of these meetings. It takes place under the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement, the 2015 deal under which countries promised to keep global warming well below 2°C, and to try to limit it to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

The conference is held at the Antalya Expo Center, a huge venue split into two zones. The Blue Zone is for accredited delegations, where the official negotiations and high-level meetings happen. The Green Zone is open to the public, with exhibitions, side events and civil society activities.

Around 60,000 people are expected to attend over the two weeks, according to Le Monde. A World Leaders’ Summit will take place on 11 and 12 November, bringing together heads of state and government. French President Emmanuel Macron is among the leaders who will not attend.

That matters enormously for Pakistan. Pakistan produces less than 1% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, yet it is one of the countries hit hardest by climate change. The floods of 2022 affected around 33 million people. The floods of 2025 killed hundreds more. For Pakistan, what happens in Antalya is not an abstract debate about the planet’s future. It is about money, protection and survival.

Why this COP is run by two countries

COP31 has an unusual leadership arrangement. Türkiye is officially presiding over the conference, with its Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change Minister, Murat Kurum, serving as COP31 President. Australia, meanwhile, is responsible for leading the negotiations, with its Climate Change and Energy Minister, Chris Bowen, acting as President of the Negotiations.

The arrangement settled an earlier dispute between the two countries over who would host this year’s talks. A pre-COP meeting was held in Fiji in October as part of the preparations.

The two countries have set out a shared agenda. Türkiye is running what it calls the Action Agenda, which encourages countries to support voluntary pledges on issues ranging from artificial intelligence to waste management. Australia is steering the formal negotiations, including a cover decision that both teams say they will work on together.

The “implementation COP”: fewer promises, more delivery

The phrase you will hear most often in Antalya is “implementation COP”. COP31 President Murat Kurum has said the conference will strive “to turn the commitments of past COPs into real results”.

What does that mean in plain language? At previous climate conferences, countries made big promises: to cut emissions, to provide finance, to move away from fossil fuels. Many of those promises have not been kept, or have been kept only slowly. COP31 is meant to focus on delivery — turning plans into projects, money into action, and pledges into measurable results.

That is why expectations for a landmark decision are low. Le Monde reports that no major decision is anticipated at what it describes as a “transitional COP”. Instead, the test of success will be whether the smaller, technical decisions make it easier for countries to get money, spend it well, and show what it achieved.

This approach has its critics. Some campaigners and experts say the COP process has become too large, too slow and too inefficient, producing results that fall far short of the climate crisis. Calls to reform the way COPs work — including the consensus rule that lets a small number of countries block agreement — have grown louder. But defenders of the process say the COP remains the only place where countries can agree on funding, adaptation and shared rules.

What is actually on the agenda?

Although no headline deal is expected, the negotiations in Antalya cover a long list of technical but important issues. Here are the main ones.

Climate finance: who pays, and how much?

Money is the biggest argument at almost every COP, and this year is no different. Developing countries say rich countries have not provided enough finance to help them cut emissions and adapt to climate change. At COP29 in 2024, countries agreed on a goal of at least $300 billion a year for developing countries by 2035, with developed countries taking the lead. Many developing countries say that goal is already being hollowed out.

Countries and negotiating groups have submitted seven proposals for inclusion in the formal agenda of the talks, according to Reuters. The most contentious issues centre on finance and trade. The African Group of Negotiators, representing 54 African countries, wants a formal discussion on finance for adapting to the impacts of climate change.

Adaptation: helping countries cope with what is already happening

Adaptation means helping countries live with climate change that is already happening — building flood defences, developing drought-resistant crops, setting up early warning systems, and protecting water supplies.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) published its Adaptation Gap Report on 4 November, just days before COP31. It found that funding to help vulnerable countries withstand flooding, drought and extreme heat remains far below what is needed, estimating that tripling adaptation finance would bring it to between $85 billion and $120 billion a year.

Fossil fuels: the roadmap from Brazil

The question of fossil fuels — coal, oil and gas — will shape the politics of Antalya even though it is not formally on the negotiation agenda. On 3 November, Brazil’s COP30 presidency published a voluntary roadmap for moving away from fossil fuels, prepared alongside the formal process and set to be presented in Antalya. The roadmap is designed to help governments turn their existing climate commitments into national policies, investments and measurable results.

Electrification: the flagship goal

The COP31 presidency’s flagship goal is electrification — getting more of the world’s energy from electricity rather than from burning fossil fuels directly. Türkiye and Australia are pushing for a commitment to raise electricity’s share of global final energy consumption from about 23% today to 35% by 2035.

Other issues: trade, just transition and the 1.5°C goal

The agenda also includes the practical details of the “just transition” mechanism, which aims to coordinate countries’ efforts to move to cleaner energy in a way that protects workers and communities, and indicators to measure progress on adapting to climate change.

What the science says: the 1.5°C limit is slipping away

COP31 opens against a grim scientific backdrop. UNEP’s Emissions Gap Report 2026, published on 21 October, found that the 1.5°C limit will be surpassed. Dawn reported that the report concludes the chance to hold warming below 1.5°C with no or limited overshoot “is gone”, and that the task now is to “minimise overshoot and return to 1.5°C”.

The numbers are stark. UNEP’s 2026 report estimates that even if countries fully implement their existing national pledges, the world is heading for about 2.6°C of warming this century. Current policies — what countries are actually doing, rather than what they have promised — point to about 2.8°C. In September, the United Nations said the 1.5°C limit was almost certain to be breached, while emissions from burning fossil fuels in 2025 remained near a record high.

What it means for Pakistan

Pakistan arrives in Antalya with ambitious climate plans — and a hard question: who will pay for them?

A country that did little to cause the problem

Pakistan contributes less than 1% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Yet it is among the countries most vulnerable to climate change, facing recurring floods, droughts, glacial melt and heatwaves.

The 2022 floods remain the defining disaster. They affected around 33 million people and killed more than 1,700. A joint assessment by the government and international partners, including the World Bank, estimated $14.9 billion in physical damage and $15.2 billion in economic losses — more than $30 billion in total. One-third of the country was under water, and recovery and reconstruction needs were put at $16.3 billion.

The human cost continued. During the 2025 floods, a cloudburst in Buner, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, claimed more than 200 lives. The 2026 monsoon had killed 199 people by 30 September, including 91 children.

Big plans, big price tag

Pakistan’s latest climate plan, NDC 3.0, sets an indicative target of reducing projected greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2035. Pakistan estimates that delivering the plan will require $565.7 billion in investment by 2035.

The government has also launched a National Climate Finance Strategy, setting out how Pakistan could mobilise domestic and international finance, increase private-sector participation and improve coordination between federal and provincial governments.

But the finance gap is enormous. Dawn reported that Pakistan needs some $47 billion a year to 2030 for climate action but receives under $2 billion. At the Geneva conference in January 2023, partners pledged more than $9 billion for flood recovery — but Pakistani officials said almost 90% of those commitments were project-financing loans, not grants. As Dawn noted, Pakistan was “asked to borrow our way out of a disaster we did little to cause”.

The Loss and Damage Fund: money promised, not yet received

Pakistan played a central role in creating the Loss and Damage Fund. In 2022, when Pakistan was chairing the Group of 77 and China, it helped get loss-and-damage finance onto the formal agenda at COP27 in Egypt, where governments agreed to establish a dedicated fund for vulnerable developing countries suffering climate-related losses.

But the fund has been slow to deliver. Ahead of COP31, Minister for Climate Change Musadik Malik told Dawn that Pakistan had yet to receive money from the Loss and Damage Fund. The News reported that the fund’s first call for proposals drew 176 requests worth $2.8 billion, against only $342 million available for the pilot phase. Pakistan has three proposals awaiting consideration, and the board is expected to decide in December. As The News put it: “A flood does not wait for a board meeting.”

A new partnership with Türkiye

Ahead of COP31, Pakistan and Türkiye agreed to deepen cooperation on climate resilience, flood management and water security. The understanding was reached during talks between a Turkish delegation and senior Pakistani officials at the Ministry of Climate Change and Environmental Coordination, according to an official statement. The two sides focused on integrated flood and river basin management, glacier and avalanche risk reduction, early warning systems, combating desertification and climate-resilient infrastructure.

Pakistan is also among the first five pilot countries of the COP31 presidency’s BRIDGE initiative, which is designed to turn climate commitments into finance-ready projects.

What happens next?

The conference runs for two weeks. Here is what to watch.

11–12 November: World Leaders’ Summit. Heads of state and government meet in Antalya. Their speeches will set the political tone, but the real work happens in the negotiating rooms afterwards.

Week one: the technical talks. Negotiators will work through the agenda items — finance, adaptation, the just transition mechanism, and the mitigation work programme. Watch for whether the African Group’s demand for a formal adaptation finance discussion is accepted.

Week two: the endgame. As at every COP, the final days are when ministers arrive and the hardest compromises are made. The conference is scheduled to close on Friday, 20 November, but COPs frequently run over time.

For Pakistan: the test is whether Antalya produces anything that turns into money and projects — adaptation finance that actually arrives, progress on the Loss and Damage Fund, and support for the BRIDGE pilot projects. As The News wrote, “Antalya will produce speeches and decisions, but the verdict that counts arrives next monsoon, in a village in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa… and it will be delivered by whether a roof holds.”

Frequently asked questions

What is COP31?

COP31 is the 31st United Nations climate change conference, where nearly 200 countries negotiate action on climate change under the UN climate convention (UNFCCC) and the Paris Agreement. It takes place in Antalya, Türkiye, from 9 to 20 November 2026.

Who is running COP31?

Türkiye is hosting and presiding over the conference, with Environment Minister Murat Kurum as COP31 President. Australia’s Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen is leading the negotiations. It is the first COP with this kind of joint leadership.

Why does COP31 matter for Pakistan?

Pakistan produces less than 1% of global emissions but is one of the most climate-vulnerable countries in the world. The 2022 floods affected 33 million people and caused more than $30 billion in damage and losses. Pakistan needs tens of billions of dollars a year for climate action and receives under $2 billion. What is agreed in Antalya affects whether that money arrives.

Will COP31 produce a big new climate deal?

Probably not. No landmark decision is expected. The value of the conference will depend on whether smaller decisions make it easier for countries to get climate finance, spend it well, and show results.

When does COP31 end?

The conference is scheduled to conclude on Friday, 20 November 2026, though climate conferences often run beyond their scheduled closing time.

Conclusion

COP31 opens in Antalya at a difficult moment for global climate action. The 1.5°C limit is slipping away, emissions remain near record highs, the United States has withdrawn from the Paris Agreement — its exit took effect on 27 January 2026 — and the world is divided by conflict and trade tensions. The conference is not expected to produce a landmark deal.

But for countries like Pakistan, the stakes in Antalya are not about headlines. They are about whether the promises of the past decade — on finance, on adaptation, on loss and damage — finally turn into money, projects and protection before the next flood arrives. That is the real test of this “implementation COP”, and its verdict will not be delivered in Antalya. It will be delivered next monsoon, in villages across Pakistan, by whether the roofs hold.

Sources

This article is for general information and education only. It is not legal or financial advice.

Faizan Altaf

Faizan Altaf is the founder and author of findivoza.com, a news blog covering world, Pakistan, business, technology, health and sport in plain English. He writes for general readers who want clear, trustworthy news without jargon. His work focuses on explaining what happened, why it matters, and what to watch next.

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