Turkey will welcome next year’s U.N. COP31 climate doomer conference following Australia’s decision Wednesday to fold first on negotiations for hosting responsibilities after spending millions trying to win the bid.
The loss by the left-wing Australian government has infuriated its Pacific allies who lamented the poor efforts by Canberra to deliver.
As per the rotating rules of the yearly climate conference, hosting 2026’s COP31 fell on one of the 28 countries part of the United Nations’ Western European and Other Group (WEOG), of which Australia and Turkey are part of.
Over the past year, discussions and disagreements on which country should host COP31 led to two prospective bids, one from Turkey, and one from Australia. In light of Turkey’s refusal to back its hosting bid down, a proposal deal on Wednesday calls to resolve the disagreement by having COP31 take place in Turkey, with Australia presiding over negotiations leading to the conference.
ABC News Australia reported Climate Minister Chris Bowen told reporters at the still-ongoing COP30 conference in Brazil both countries were willing to make “significant concessions” to strike a deal, confirming Turkey will host the event but that he would be the “president” of COP for negotiation purposes.
“Significant concession is what’s required when you are trying to find consensus,” Bowen said. “Obviously, it would be great if Australia could have it all. But we can’t have it all. This process works on consensus.”
The Minister for Climate Change and Energy of Australia, Chris Bowen, couldn’t match the negotiating skills of Turkey which will now host the COP31 climate summit in 2026. (PABLO PORCIUNCULA/AFP via Getty Images)
While Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described the proposal as a “big win,” the decision angered neighboring South Pacific island nations that were “enthusiastic” about a prospective Australia-hosted COP.
Papua New Guinea’s Foreign Minister Justin Tkatchenko told AFP he was “disappointed” at the outcome, describing the COP selection process as a “waste of time.”
“We are all not happy,” Tkatchenko reportedly said. “What has COP achieved over the years? Nothing.”
“It’s just a talk fest and doesn’t hold the big polluters accountable,” he continued.
Former Prime Minister of Tuvalu Bikenibeu Paeniu asserted to AFP that “The Pacific countries should seriously remodel their relationship with Australia.”
According to Bikenibeu, Australia’s decision to back down from hosting COP31 shows “the non-committal of Australia to climate justice.”
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According to local reports, had Australia been awarded COP31’s hosting rights, the state of South Australia would have been responsible for the brunt of the event. South Australia’s Premier Peter Malinauskas told reporters on Thursday he had only learned of the outcome of his country’s bid that morning, describing the selection process as “obscene.”
Malinauskas noted the Australian government had already spent almost four million Australian dollars for the failed COP31 bid.
“I understand the position that the prime minister has taken. He has taken a position to try and navigate the quite frankly, obscene process that exists internationally,” Malinauskas said.
“It’s very clear that the rest of the world largely would have preferred COP to be in Adelaide, but that Turkey was going to exercise their veto right,” he continued.
Malinauskas did not rule out the possibility of the state’s capital city Adelaide bidding for a future COP edition.
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