Turkey to Host COP31 as Australia Withdraws

Thu Nov 20 2025 04:58:48 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

The annual COP31 climate conference will take place in Turkey after Australia suspends its bid, creating a unique agreement between the two countries.

In a surprising turn of events, Turkey has been selected to host the COP31 climate conference, following Australia's decision to withdraw its bid. The agreement came after intense negotiations at COP30 in Brazil, leading to Australia supporting Turkey's application in exchange for a collaborative leadership arrangement where Australia's climate minister will preside over the meeting. This unusual arrangement is set to be ratified by the nations present at COP30, providing a resolution to ongoing deadlocks over the event's location.

The COP31 climate meeting is now expected to be held in Turkey after Australia dropped its bid to host the annual event.

Under the UN rules, the right to host COP in 2026 falls to a group of countries made up of Western Europe, Australia, and others.

A consensus must be reached, but neither country had been willing to concede. Australia has now agreed to support the Turkish bid in return for their minister chairing the talks following negotiations at COP30, currently being held in Brazil.

This unusual arrangement has taken observers by surprise. It is normal for a COP president to be from the host country, and how this new partnership will work in practice remains to be seen.

However, there will be relief among countries meeting here that a compromise has been reached, as the lack of agreement on the venue was becoming an embarrassment for the UN.

Australia had pushed hard for the COP to be in the city of Adelaide, emphasizing their commitment to co-host the meeting with Pacific island states, who are particularly vulnerable to climate change and rising sea levels.

Turkey felt they had a strong claim to host since they allowed the UK to hold the COP26 meeting in Glasgow in 2021.

If neither country had been willing to compromise, the meeting would have moved to Bonn, Germany, the headquarters of the UN's climate body.

As a result of discussions at COP30, a compromise appears to have been reached. This includes holding a pre-COP meeting on a Pacific island, while the main event is scheduled for Turkey, with Australia's climate minister Chris Bowen acting as president.

Obviously, it would be great if Australia could have it all, but we can't have it all, Mr. Bowen told reporters outside the Australian delegation offices in Belém. This process works on consensus, and consensus means if someone objected to our bid, it would go to Bonn. That would mean 12 months with a lack of leadership, no COP president in place, no plan; that would be irresponsible for multilateralism in this challenging environment.

Mr. Bowen expressed confidence that having a COP president not from the host country would be effective, indicating that he would retain considerable authority typically reserved for such roles.

Australia's withdrawal may be seen as a setback for Prime Minister Albanese's government, which had worked diligently to build support among other nations in the Western Europe group.

This compromise will require ratification by more than 190 countries present at COP30, and given the challenges in reaching this agreement, objections seem unlikely.