By Ilya U. Topper and Luis Lidón
Antalya, Turkey (EFE).- The COP31 climate summit began on Monday in Antalya, Turkey, in a world divided and conflicted as global warming accelerates.
Organizational chaos left thousands of participants stuck in long lines trying to enter the venue.
Representatives from nearly 200 countries began two weeks of negotiations on the planet’s future as the United Nations warned that global warming has become a «global health crisis of pandemic proportions,» attributing an estimated 50,000 deaths to this summer’s European heat waves.
Thus, the first day highlighted the contrast between the urgency to act, with a global average temperature between January and September that exceeded pre-industrial levels by 1.47°C, and the political, economic, and logistical difficulties of mounting a joint response.
Turkish Environment Minister Murat Kurum, the conference chair, called for rebuilding international trust amid growing geopolitical fragmentation.
«Wars and geopolitical tensions persist. Trade routes, energy networks, and supply chains are being redesigned,” he warned in his opening address.
«Each crisis exacerbates the others,» Kurum added, noting that everything is interconnected. For example, droughts can drive up food prices thousands of kilometers away, while water shortages affect the economy, migration, and security.
COP31 is being held under an unprecedented arrangement. Turkey holds the presidency, and Australia is leading the negotiations.
Australian Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen urged delegations to set aside their differences and prove that international cooperation can deliver results.
«Let’s show the world that multilateralism works,» Bowen urged at a summit where the United States government is not participating due to US President Donald Trump’s climate denialism.
A planet breaking records
The urgency is reflected in the data presented by the World Meteorological Organization. Its secretary-general, Celeste Saulo of Argentina, confirmed that the last 12 years have been the warmest on record.
From January to September, the global average temperature surpassed pre-industrial levels by 1.47°C, and heat accumulated in the oceans reached record highs for the tenth consecutive year.
Saulo also warned that the 2026-2027 El Niño phenomenon, caused by abnormal warming of the equatorial Pacific, is of unprecedented intensity and could cause 2027 to set a new temperature record.
«It’s off the charts. It’s unlike any other El Niño phenomenon we’ve ever observed,” he said.
Saulo noted that sea levels also reached a new high, posing growing risks to the 900 million people living in low-lying coastal areas.
Simon Stiell, the executive secretary of UN Climate Change, warned that extreme temperatures have affected hundreds of millions of people in Asia and linked the increase in health risks to fossil fuels.
“For far too many people, climate change is deadly,” he said.
At the summit, countries must choose between electrification and upheaval, Stiell said, supporting one of the COP31 presidency’s main initiatives: increasing the share of electricity in global final energy consumption from 20% to 35% by 2035.
Endless lines
The serious tone of the warnings contrasted with the chaos at the entrances to the venue, located about 18 kilometers (11 miles) from downtown Antalya.
The trams were packed from early morning, and the lines for credentials were so long that organizers asked participants to delay their arrival until Tuesday if possible.
The massive complex hosting the summit, built for the 2016 Antalya World Expo and adapted for COP31, will undergo another test on Wednesday and Thursday when world leaders, including Brazilian President Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva, are scheduled to arrive.
The dispute over money
Funding has once again emerged as one of the major obstacles in the negotiations.
In 2024, the wealthiest countries agreed to provide a minimum of 300 billion dollars per year to developing economies starting in 2035 as part of a broader goal of 1.3 trillion dollars annually.
However, the absence of the US, coupled with the European Union’s declaration that it will not increase funding, suggests progress in this area is unlikely.
Ana Aguilar, chair of the AILAC negotiating group, which brings together seven Latin American countries, warned that the region needs resources that do not exacerbate its debt burden.
«We cannot finance our adaptation through loans,» she told EFE, highlighting the difficulties in accessing international funds.
Aguilar called on wealthy countries to honor their financial commitments, including by mobilizing private capital, and to simplify the procedures for obtaining these resources.EFE
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