ANTALYA – The Antalya Leaders' Summit of the 31st United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP31) opened on Wednesday, with a focus on turning climate commitments into concrete action.

Opening the high-level meeting, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged international cooperation on shared challenges. "We do not need countries to agree on everything, but we do need them to cooperate on the things no country can solve alone," he said.

Guterres noted that global emissions reached a record high in 2025 and that the past four years were the hottest in history. Pointing out that fossil fuels must be phased out, he stated that major oil companies should contribute to recovery efforts through taxes on their windfall profits.

RELATED ARTICLES

• 2026 set to be the hottest year on record, WMO report says
• US absence from COP31 undermines momentum for global climate action
• COP31 urged to develop strategies for climate finance by 2035
• Tse: HK greenhouse gas emissions down 32% since 2014 peak

Highlighting the transition in the energy sector, Guterres added that solar power alone met nearly three quarters of the growth in global electricity demand last year, proving that clean energy has become the cheapest source of new electricity across most of the world.

This year's summit aims to bridge the gap between ambition and delivery by focusing on implementation, finance delivery, and climate resilience.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stressed that prioritizing the needs of Pacific Island nations was a key responsibility. He called for climate finance to become more accessible, predictable, and responsive to actual needs.

"Developed nations, which have historically consumed the global carbon budget, must assume greater responsibility in both emission reductions and financing," Erdogan said.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese emphasized that international cooperation is unlocking clean energy investments and accelerating climate finance, while stressing that "no one must be left behind" in the transition.

Pointing to progress since the Paris Agreement, with projected warming dropping from 4 degrees Celsius to around 2.6 degrees, Albanese urged leaders to treat this decade as a critical window to keep the 1.5 degrees Celsius goal within reach and turn ambition into implementation.