COP31 opens with climate finance dispute

ANTALYA, Nov 9: The COP31 climate talks kicked off Monday with an early fight over money as the UN's chief urged world leaders to "get serious" about tackling the crisis after a year of devastating weather extremes.

Antonio Guterres made his plea as thousands of participants descended on a sprawling expo centre in the Turkish Mediterranean city of Antalya for the UN's annual two-week climate conference.
The summit comes after a year of punishing heatwaves in Europe, major wildfires in Indonesia and catastrophic floods in Nepal, with an exceptionally strong El Nino weather phenomenon fuelling more climate chaos.

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

The UN 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 opened an hour-and-a-half late without explanation.

COP31 Negotiation President Chris Bowen warned that “every fraction of a degree, every delay increases risk to lives”, speaking alongside Turkish Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change Minister and COP31 President Murat Kurum, and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Chair Jim Skea.

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

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

Under UN 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 programme" 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 sea walls 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 fuelled by the US 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 pre-industrial levels, breaching the most ambitious threshold set by the Paris Agreement.

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 percent today to 35 percent by 2035. �"AFP