Antonio Guterres made his plea as thousands of participants descended on a sprawling expo centre in the Mediterranean city of Antalya in Turkiye for the UN’s annual two-week climate conference.
The summit comes after a year of punishing heatwaves in Europe, major wildfires in Indonesia and catastrophic floods in Nepal, with an exceptionally strong El Nino weather phenomenon fuelling more climate chaos.
“We have entered a new age of climate extremes,” Guterres said in a statement.
He urged leaders to “get serious by cutting emissions faster, accelerating a just transition from fossil fuels and delivering the finance and protection vulnerable countries need”.
But the COP31 opening ceremony opened an hour-and-a-half late without explanation.
Negotiators had been locked in discussions late on Sunday over demands by developing nations to include items on climate finance in the official agenda.
“This has already been a difficult start for COP31,” said Jasper Inventor, head of Greenpeace’s COP31 delegation.
Under UN climate agreements, developed countries, which are historically responsible for most greenhouse gas emissions, have provided financial support to help developing nations adapt to climate impacts and transition to cleaner energy.
But poorer countries say the sums remain insufficient.
Inventor said developed countries took a “hard line” over whether to include a platform, agreed at COP30 in Brazil last year, aimed at discussing how wealthy nations should provide funds to developing nations.
A source familiar with the talks said the “climate work programme” would be included in the agenda.
African countries had also pushed for the agenda to include discussions on the tripling of adaptation finance, which aims to help poorer nations pay for measures such as building sea walls or planting drought-resistant crops.
A senior European Union official warned last week that there would be “no political will” for extra funding pledges at COP31.
Observers say few major breakthroughs are expected at COP31 as countries grapple with an oil price shock and geopolitical tensions fuelled by the US war with Iran and Russia’s conflict in Ukraine.
As negotiators tussled in Antalya, the UN’s World Meteorological Organisation released a report indicating that 2026 has continued a streak of exceptional global temperatures, melting ice and rising sea levels. (AFP)
