World Leaders Gather in Turkey for COP31 Climate Change Negotiations

Host nation Turkey is pushing an Action Agenda centered on a non-binding target to make electricity account for 35 percent of global energy demand by 2035, alongside its Zero Waste initiative.

Turkish officials and Australia, which is leading formal negotiations through Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen, are championing the 2035 electrification goal. The summit opens amid geopolitical turmoil and an oil price crisis driven by Middle East conflict. Environmental campaigners and local residents in Turkey criticized the host country for its ongoing reliance on coal, which generated 34 percent of the nation's electricity last year, and pointed to a lack of any phase-out date or mention of coal in official priorities.

In Ikizkoy, villagers near the Akbelen forest protested the expansion of lignite mining and demanded that summit leaders inspect the environmental devastation caused by extraction. Data from energy think tanks and analyses show China contributed $132 billion in clean technology and investment to the developing world last year, matching the total climate finance provided by wealthy nations.