What is COP31?
What is the COP?
At the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC in English, BMİDÇS in Turkish) was adopted and came into force in 1994. This convention constitutes the framework text establishing the global legal basis for combating climate change.
The countries that are Party to the Convention are referred to as ‘Parties’. The annual meeting at which these Parties convene is the Conference of the Parties (COP). The COP is the convention’s supreme decision-making body: it oversees implementation, takes decisions and establishes new mechanisms.
The first COP was held in Berlin in 1995. Since then, a COP has been held every year, with the exception of 2020, when it was cancelled due to Covid-19. The COP number therefore changes over the years: the 2026 meeting will be the 31st.
One meeting, three distinct bodies. During the weeks of the COP, several meetings actually take place in parallel: the COP, which is the body of the Convention; the CMP, which is the body of the Kyoto Protocol; and the CMA, which is the body of the Paris Agreement. In the press, they are all referred to as ‘COP31’; in official documents, however, they are numbered separately.
How are decisions made?
At the COP, decisions are taken by consensus; there is no voting. This means that all 197 Parties must accept the text without objection. This rule is both the strength and the weakness of the COPs: the decision taken represents the collective will of the whole world, but resistance from a single country can be enough to weaken the text or block the negotiations.
This is why the final texts are often made public several hours, or even several days, after the summit’s official closing time. COP6, held in The Hague in 2000, ended without an agreement being reached; negotiations resumed the following year in Bonn, from where they had left off.
Who takes part in the COP?
A COP meeting room is not filled solely with government delegations. Participants fall into three main groups:
- Delegations from the Parties: the only group authorised to negotiate. It is they who take the decisions.
- United Nations bodies and specialised agencies: the IPCC, the World Meteorological Organisation, UNEP and others.
- Observer organisations: organisations that have no negotiating power but are present in the hall, express their views and organise side events. The UNFCCC has grouped them into representative groups: environmental organisations (ENGO), the business sector (BINGO), local authorities (LGMA), indigenous peoples (IPO), trade unions (TUNGO), youth (YOUNGO), women and gender equality (WGC), and farmers and research organisations (RINGO).
The role of universities: RINGO. Universities and research institutes participate in the UNFCCC process as observers within the Research and Independent Non-Governmental Organizations (RINGO) group. The role of the academic community at the COP is not to negotiate, but to provide a scientific basis for the issues under negotiation: producing data, drafting policy briefs, organising side events, and bridging the gap between decision-makers and science.
Blue Zone and Green Zone
Each COP venue is divided into two zones. This distinction also answers the question ‘How can I take part in the COP?’:
| Blue Zone | Green Zone | |
|---|---|---|
| Organiser | The United Nations | Host country |
| Access | UN accreditation required | Open to the public |
| What’s happening? | Official negotiations, national pavilions, accredited side events | Exhibitions, round-table discussions, events for young people and civil society, cultural programme |
| For universities | RINGO accreditation, applications for side events, pavilion programme | Events, stands, student participation, volunteering |
COP31 key facts
- Full name
- 31st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
- Date
- 9–20 November 2026
- Venue
- ANFAŞ Antalya Expo Center, Antalya
- Host
- Republic of Türkiye
- COP President
- Murat Kurum, Minister of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change
- Chair of the negotiations
- Chris Bowen, Australian Minister for Climate Change and Energy
- Expected scale
- 197 parties, approximately 100,000 participants
- Theme
- ‘From Göbeklitepe to the global net-zero target’ — from dialogue to consensus, from consensus to action
- World Leaders Summit
- 11–12 November 2026
- Pre-COP
- 5–8 October 2026, Fiji (leaders’ meeting in Tuvalu)
Co-organised by Türkiye and Australia
One of the most striking features of COP31 is its governance structure. Türkiye and Australia competed to host the event; as neither country withdrew its bid, COP30, held in Belém in November 2025, reached an impasse. Following a week of negotiations, a compromise based on a sharing of responsibilities was reached:
- Türkiye is the host. The conference will be held in Antalya, Türkiye will hold the COP Presidency, and the Action Agenda – which sets out the summit’s concrete implementation priorities – will be managed by Türkiye.
- Australia will chair the official negotiations. Climate Minister Chris Bowen will chair the negotiations.
- The ‘Pacific’ dimension: the preparatory meeting for the summit will take place in Fiji, whilst the leaders’ meeting will be held in Tuvalu, one of the countries hardest hit by rising sea levels. The aim is to enable decision-makers to witness the effects of climate change first-hand before travelling to Antalya.
Common misconception: as COP31 was for a time associated solely with Australia’s bid to host the event, some sources still refer to it as the ‘summit to be held in Australia’. COP31 will take place in Antalya. Australia’s role is not to host the summit, but to chair the negotiations.
Why is COP31 important?
The Paris Agreement put to the test
Adopted in 2015, the Paris Agreement aims to keep the global temperature rise well below 2 °C compared with pre-industrial levels, and to limit it to 1.5 °C if possible. The Agreement is not based on targets imposed on countries from above, but on Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), in which each country sets out its own targets. COP31, which will take place following a new round of submissions during which countries will have announced their targets for 2035, will be one of the summits where the gap between commitments and reality will be most evident.
A first for Türkiye
Türkiye is hosting the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change for the first time. This is not the country’s only experience of environmental diplomacy within the United Nations: in 2015, Ankara hosted the 12th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP12), and the outcomes of that meeting were recorded in documents as the ‘Ankara Decisions’. COP31, however, is on a completely different scale in terms of scope and visibility.
A pressing regional agenda
The Mediterranean basin is one of the regions warming faster than the global average. Drought, forest fires, rising sea temperatures and water stress are not abstract scenarios for Türkiye, but realities it is currently facing. The hosting of COP31 in Antalya places this agenda at the heart of the Turkish public debate.
What must not be confused
COP is not an economic summit
The COP is an intergovernmental negotiation process; it is not a high-level meeting format like the G20 or Davos. Its outcome is not a joint declaration, but a decision text with legal implications.
There is not just one ‘COP’
The Convention on Biological Diversity and the Convention to Combat Desertification also have their own Conferences of the Parties, also referred to by the acronym ‘COP’. COP31 falls under the Climate Convention.
The COP does not sign agreements
Agreements such as the Paris Agreement or the Kyoto Protocol are exceptions. Most COPs adopt technical and financial decisions concerning the implementation of existing agreements.
What role does Galatasaray University play in this process?
Galatasaray University is preparing for COP31 as part of the university participation model run by the Council of Higher Education (YÖK). The university’s expertise in the fields of maritime affairs, law, economics, communication and international relations directly aligns with the priority themes on the COP31 agenda, notably the oceans and seas, youth and education, as well as climate finance.
To find out more about the university’s work in the run-up to COP31 and to obtain information on coordination, please visit the Our University page.
