COP 31: UN Climate Change Conference, Antalya 2026

COP31 comes at a time when the nature of climate summits is undergoing a fundamental shift. The negotiations concerning the Paris Agreement's detailed operational framework have been concluded, meaning that the complete regulatory framework is in place. It is now crucial that the international community puts the Paris Agreement further into practice – and does so quickly.

It is already clear that global warming is set to exceed 1.5°C, with irreversible negative effects on people and the planet becoming increasingly apparent. At the 31st UN Climate Change Conference in Antalya, Germanwatch is calling on governments to take concrete next steps.

Why the COP remains important

The COPs (Conferences of Parties) provide a unique multilateral forum for governments and other stakeholders to work together on solutions to the climate crisis. They give all countries a seat at the table, including those most affected by climate change, ensuring that their perspectives can shape the global response.

It took ten years of international climate negotiations to set up the rulebook of the Paris Agreement. While previous COPs focused on negotiating the rules, COP31 must now lead to real next steps. In Antalya, the focus must therefore be on putting ideas into action: building new alliances for climate action and climate adaptation, strengthening effective governance, and increasing accountability. Climate finance remains a key issue in the negotiations.

What we expect from the COP

COP31 must demonstrate that, despite geopolitical tensions, the international community is capable of taking decisive action to tackle the escalating climate crisis. To achieve this, governments must translate their commitments under the Paris Agreement into concrete measures more swiftly and strengthen cooperation between governments and non-state actors, including the private sector, cities, and civil society. We consider the following three areas to be particularly important:

1. The Paris Agreement must be visibly implemented

The credibility of the Paris Agreement no longer rests on ambitious targets set out on paper. What matters now is that countries demonstrate how they have implemented these targets on the ground. At COP31, it will therefore be crucial to shift the political focus from setting new targets to taking concrete action. National climate targets, adaptation plans and roadmaps for the transition of specific sectors, as well as the delivery of climate finance must be put into practice – and much more quickly than has been the case to date. The implementation process must keep pace with the accelerating impacts of climate change, while also capitalising on the economic and developmental opportunities that the transition presents.

2. The international climate regime must become more effective

Climate action should not depend solely on the goodwill of individual states. Instead, it requires reliable structures to ensure that it is sustained over the long term. Countries should acknowledge the UN climate negotiations themselves must evolve. COP31 should send out a clear signal on this.

The process should be streamlined so that decisions already agreed can be implemented more effectively. At the same time, increasingly ambitious climate targets must be pursued, and the rules on transparency and accountability must be strengthened and enforced. Only in this way can commitments be tracked and verified, rather than merely repeated.

Realistically, not all countries will currently support a reform of this magnitude. This makes it all the more important for a sufficiently large group of states to be prepared to pioneer this path together – even if a consensus among all Parties remains out of reach.

3. Climate finance muss be increased and diversified

Without sufficient and reliable funding, climate targets will not be met. COP31 must therefore take concrete steps to strengthen the international finance architecture, secure public climate finance, and mobilise additional resources. This includes new international sources of finance and significantly increasing the mobilisation of private capital. In this context, those who have contributed the most to the climate crisis should contribute appropriately to financing climate action and adaptation, in line with the 'polluter pays' principle.

Indices

As part of the UN Climate Change Conference, Germanwatch publishes two indices: the Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) evaluates how countries are performing in terms of addressing climate change, while the Climate Change Risk Index (CRI) highlights the countries most severely affected by the lack of climate action.