The road to the 31st UN Climate Change Conference has entered its logistical phase. With COP31 scheduled for 9–20 November 2026 in Antalya, Türkiye, the COP31 Pre-COP Fiji meetings in Nadi from 5–8 October will be the last major staging post where Pacific nations align their negotiating positions before the summit.
FAKTA
- What: Pacific Pre-COP31 meetings ahead of the COP31 UN climate summit
- Where: Nadi, Fiji (5–8 October 2026), with a Leaders’ component in Tuvalu (5–6 October); jointly delivered by Australia, Fiji and Tuvalu in partnership with the UNFCCC
- Main event: COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye, 9–20 November 2026
- Leadership: Türkiye hosts and nominates the COP President (Murat Kurum, President-Designate); Australia serves as President of Negotiations (Chris Bowen)
- Pacific message: “Keep 1.5 alive” — follow the science and deliver climate finance for vulnerable states
COP31 Pre-COP Fiji Sets the Pacific Agenda
According to Fiji’s Environment Ministry, Pre-COP31 provides an opportunity to bridge gaps across the negotiation agenda ahead of COP31 while allowing Pacific Island countries to share their priorities and experiences. Fiji will host the main Pre-COP31 meeting in Nadi from 5 to 8 October, while the Leaders’ component will be held in Tuvalu on 5 and 6 October, with coordination between Fiji, Tuvalu and Australia continuing in the lead-up.
The Pre-COP31 Ministerial Meeting and Leaders’ Event is being jointly delivered by Australia, Fiji and Tuvalu in partnership with the UNFCCC ahead of the 31st Conference of the Parties. Diplomatic missions accredited to Fiji were briefed on the structure of the meetings, including preparatory sessions in Nadi and the Leaders’ component in Tuvalu, along with registration, accreditation, visa facilitation, protocol, accommodation, transport and security arrangements.
Pacific Island States Strategise Under the “Keep 1.5 Alive” Banner
Pacific Small Island Developing States (PSIDS) gathered in Nadi for a dedicated pre-COP31 strategy meeting from 30 September to 2 October, facilitated by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), to finalise their plans a month out from COP31. “Our message is simple. Follow the science, keep 1.5 alive to ensure that our world will thrive, accelerate implementation, and deliver the finance and support needed by vulnerable countries like SIDS and LDCs,” said SPREP Director General Sefanaia Nawadra.
The Pacific push comes as a new UN Environment Programme report warns that global temperature rise is set to cross 1.5°C within the next few years, pushing climate risks and impacts to increasingly dangerous heights. The UNEP report identifies an “overshoot, peak, and decline” pathway as the best remaining option to minimise the magnitude and duration of that overshoot and return below 1.5°C as soon as possible.
What the Pacific Will Demand in Antalya
Delegations are expected to highlight keeping the 1.5°C temperature goal within reach, improving access to predictable and accessible climate finance, and strengthening attention to the relationship between oceans and climate change. Fiji’s Climate Change Minister Lynda Tabuya has also urged stronger youth voices in the region’s COP31 preparations, calling on young Pacific leaders to carry their priorities into regional and global climate discussions.
Novel Shared Presidency Heads Into Antalya
COP31 carries a distinctive institutional settlement: Türkiye physically hosts the summit and the World Leaders Summit in Antalya and nominates the COP President, while Australia serves as “President of Negotiations.” Australia’s Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen holds that role; Türkiye’s Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Minister Murat Kurum is President-Designate. The split grew from a WEOG deadlock between Australia’s Pacific-facing bid and Türkiye’s Antalya campaign.
Unfinished business from the mid-year subsidiary-body talks in Bonn — including the Global Goal on Adaptation, the Mitigation Work Programme and climate-finance disputes — will land on COP31’s agenda, testing whether Pre-COP visibility, the presidency’s Action Agenda and Australia’s negotiating mandate can deliver decisions Parties adopt.
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Conclusion
With Pre-COP31 in Fiji and the Tuvalu leaders’ component set for early October and COP31 in Antalya from 9–20 November, the Pacific states have unusual agenda-setting visibility without hosting. The test in Antalya will be whether shared leadership can convert that momentum into landing zones on adaptation metrics, finance, mitigation follow-through and credible post-2030 pledges.
Sources: Pacific Islands News Association, NatureNews Africa, PINA: Keep 1.5 Alive.
