UN Climate Chief: “We Are Doing Things Differently”

 

Gustav Sjöholm/TT

 

Published 09.37

The UN’s major climate summit has begun in Antalya, Turkey. UN climate chief Simon Stiell is now emphasizing that it is time for a new approach.

“We must deal with the world as it is, not as we wish it to be,” he says in a speech.

In fact, the UN notes that everything required to reverse the trend of greenhouse gas emissions is already in place. In Paris in 2015, the world’s nations agreed to limit global warming—ideally to below 1.5 degrees; in Glasgow in 2021, they agreed to “phase down” coal; in Dubai in 2023, to transition away from fossil fuels; and last year in Belém, to triple funding for climate adaptation.

“Full speed ahead for solutions”

For nearly two weeks, up to 100,000 people—ranging from world leaders to activists—are gathering in Antalya, Turkey, to continue deliberating on these issues at the largest UN meeting on the calendar.

“In this era of implementation, at COP31, we are doing things differently,” says Simon Stiell in his opening address.

“COP31 must accelerate solutions—breaking down existing global goals and national plans into concrete, incremental steps,” says Stiell. Sweden’s Minister for Climate, Romina Pourmokhtari (L), highlights electrification as a potential "wild card" topic at the meeting.

"I believe this could be a way forward for many countries that are reluctant to discuss phasing out fossil fuels, but might still be open to discussing the phasing in of clean energy," she tells the news agency TT.

Nepal and the African Group have demanded the inclusion of items regarding climate finance on the agenda—a move that could delay the start of the meeting, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

"It has already been a difficult start for COP31," Jasper Inventro, head of the Greenpeace delegation, tells AFP.

Coinciding with the start of the meeting, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has released an update on the state of the climate. 2026 is set to be one of the four warmest years on record, with an average temperature—up to and including September—of 1.47 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average.

"A new era"

Furthermore, this year, climate change is fueling the El Niño weather phenomenon, which is feared to lead to extreme weather across vast regions.

"We have entered a new era of climate extremes. A massive El Niño is colliding with a planet already overheated by human-caused climate change," UN Secretary-General António Guterres stated, addressing the participants at COP31:

"Leaders must take this seriously by cutting emissions faster, accelerating a just transition away from fossil fuels, and delivering the funding and protection that vulnerable nations need." 

Facts

COP31

The UN climate summits, known as COP, are held in different locations each year. COP stands for "Conference of the Parties," referring to the parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

The first climate summit, COP1, was held in Berlin, Germany, in 1995.

At the meeting in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997, the first global climate agreement—the Kyoto Protocol—was negotiated.

In the 2015 Paris Agreement, most of the world’s nations agreed to keep the rise in the global average temperature well below 2 degrees—and ideally below 1.5 degrees—compared to pre-industrial levels. This is to be achieved primarily by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

COP31 will be held in Antalya, Turkey, from November 9 to 20.