World leaders began delivering national statements at the COP31 Antalya Leaders Summit on Wednesday, the two day heads of state and government segment of the United Nations climate conference that opened in the Turkish resort city on November 9 and runs to November 20. Delegates from nearly 200 countries are meeting as a UN report last month put the world on course to break through the 1.5 degrees Celsius warming limit set under the Paris Agreement.
Wednesday speakers were expected to include Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, whose country hosted last year’s talks, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Chinese Vice President Han Zheng and Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine, with statements continuing through Thursday. The United States, the world’s largest historical emitter, has skipped the talks for the second year in a row after President Donald Trump withdrew the US from climate cooperation following his return to office in 2025.
The host government’s central proposal is an electrification goal: raising electricity’s share of total global energy consumption to 35 percent by 2035, from a little over a fifth now. Critics note the proposal carries no requirement that the new power be generated from clean sources, and governments have yet to agree a broader plan to transition away from fossil fuels after the previous COP in Brazil failed to reach consensus on one. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres told the conference on Tuesday that it was long past time to stop treating the transition away from fossil fuels as taboo, and urged countries to produce clear timelines.
The Brazilian COP presidency has published a roadmap in recent weeks that asks countries to plan and assess their energy systems by 2028 and then work together to reduce fossil fuel supply from 2031. Whether the Antalya text adopts the electrification target, the roadmap, both or neither is the decision the leaders segment is meant to unlock before negotiators close the conference on November 20.