Antalya, Türkiye — One day before the COP31 climate summit opens in Antalya, American participation will come largely from Capitol Hill rather than the White House: a 19-member congressional delegation is heading to the talks, while the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has praised Türkiye’s preparations for the summit.
The 31st United Nations Climate Change Conference opens on Monday, 9 November, and runs until 20 November at the Antalya Expo Center, with a World Leaders’ Summit scheduled for 11 and 12 November.
A congressional delegation, not a White House one
The delegation was announced this week by Representative Sean Casten, an Illinois Democrat, according to Euronews. Led by the Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition (SEEC) Institute, the group plans to meet policymakers, civil society and business leaders to “explore opportunities for renewed US engagement on climate, energy, and economic policy”. Casten described the visit as serving an “important diplomatic function”.
The Trump administration, which pulled the United States out of the Paris Agreement for a second time, is not taking part in the negotiations. State and local leaders are also expected to attend under the “America Is All In” coalition.
The arrangement means the United States will be present in Antalya through its legislature and its states and cities, even as the federal government stays out of the formal talks.
WMO: Türkiye is doing “a great job”
WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo told Anadolu that Türkiye’s active role in climate diplomacy is “very clear” and that, under COP31 President Murat Kurum, the talks would be “in a good place” to change course and take concrete steps.
Saulo said the WMO is fully aligned with the COP31 Action Agenda prepared by Türkiye, which puts science and evidence at the heart of decisions. She noted that the current El Niño has had impacts beyond anything seen before, and that early warning systems save lives, though progress “is not happening at the pace we would like”.
“Türkiye is doing a great job at COP31, both organizationally and strategically,” she said, urging governments to “move faster, implement now.”
Laurence Tubiana, chief executive of the European Climate Foundation and one of the architects of the Paris Agreement, said Türkiye could play an important bridge-building role between the parties as COP31 president. European Bank for Reconstruction and Development President Odile Renaud-Basso said the bank has already invested 2.5 billion euros in Türkiye this year and expects a record of more than 2.7 billion euros by year-end.
Peace Forest and the leaders’ summit
On 11 November, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres will plant saplings together in a Peace Forest created for the summit, Agriculture and Forestry Minister İbrahim Yumaklı said.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Thursday that he plans to attend the leaders’ summit on 11 and 12 November, after being invited by Erdoğan in New York in September.
For Türkiye, an observer at UN climate talks until 2004 and a party to the Paris Agreement since 2021, COP31 will be the first climate summit held on home soil. COP31 President Murat Kurum marked the final stretch of the countdown with a short video post reading “Son 3” — “the final 3”.
Final preparations in Antalya
Yumaklı said crews in Türkiye fought 6,219 forest fires this year, and the burned forest area fell by about 68 percent from 2025. By his figures, fires affected 0.1 percent of Türkiye’s forests in 2026, compared with 1.23 percent in the United States.
Young innovators also have a place in the final programme: a COP31 climate tech creathon run by the T3 Foundation, the T3 Entrepreneurship Center and the Zero Waste Foundation, under the slogan “Technology for Climate, Solution for the Future!”, holds its final on 17 and 18 November.
Türkiye will also present its National Energy 2040 roadmap at the summit, aiming for 175,000 megawatts of wind and solar capacity by 2040 — a plan covered in detail in Watan News’ earlier report.
FAKTA
- Dates: COP31 opens 9 November and runs until 20 November 2026 at the Antalya Expo Center.
- Presidency: Murat Kurum of Türkiye is COP31 President; Chris Bowen of Australia is President of Negotiations.
- Leaders’ summit: 11 and 12 November, with 77 leaders listed to speak.
- US presence: a 19-member congressional delegation led by the SEEC Institute; no official White House delegation.
- Peace Forest: saplings planted on 11 November by Erdoğan, Albanese and Guterres.
- Forest fires: 6,219 fires fought in Türkiye this year; burned area down about 68 percent from 2025.
Conclusion
As COP31 opens, the summit’s first test will be whether the implementation agenda championed by its presidency can turn long-standing pledges into concrete action — with or without Washington’s formal seat at the table.
