Australia U-turns and hands climate summit to Turkey

Australia will not host the UN’s annual climate summit in 2026, instead bowing to a rival bid from Türkiye.

A three-year campaign to bring COP31 climate talks to Adelaide in partnership with Pacific nations has been disrupted during last-gasp talks at the 2025 event in Brazil.

While Australia has the overwhelming support of the “Western” group to hold the 2026 event, under UN rules hosting rights are determined by consensus and negotiation, not voting.

Australia has almost given up on this goal, with the 2025 summit being closed as a deadline, in a stalemate where Türkiye is unwilling to back down.

Climate Minister Chris Bowen, Australia’s representative at the COP talks, confirmed a compromise model following talks with Türkiye.

The summit will be hosted by Antalya, a Mediterranean resort city popular with Russian tourists, while Mr Bowen will chair the COP negotiations, with a flagship event to be held in the Pacific.

The result was a diplomatic disaster for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s government, which spent great energy and likely tens of millions of dollars campaigning for the event.

Mr Bowen flew to Belem insisting that Australia stick to the tender.

“We’re in this together and we’re here to win,” he told attendees on Monday (AEDT).

At the same time, when he returned to his country, Mr Albanese appeared to have cooled off the offer.

“If Australia doesn’t get elected, if (Turkey) gets elected, we won’t try to veto that,” he told reporters in Washington on Tuesday.

Late on Thursday morning, Pacific Minister Pat Conroy insisted the government was still keen to host COP31, while admitting the diplomatic fight might not go Australia’s way.

The Turkish Embassy in Australia said the Pacific would be taken into consideration.

“We will ensure that no one is left behind, especially in the regions most negatively affected by climate change, including the Pacific,” the embassy told AAP.

“The Mediterranean, on the other hand, is a recognized climate hotspot, warming 20 percent faster than the global average and facing increasing threats from extreme heat, water scarcity and biodiversity loss.”

The embassy also argued that Türkiye is well positioned to close the climate policy gap between developed and developing countries.

Australia’s bid was first launched by Mr Bowen at climate talks in 2022.

This ambition has been praised by climate advocacy organizations and Pacific countries that have officially backed the bid and have pledged to be part of the process.

Mr Bowen said he kept Pacific prospects in mind during the negotiations, with the reconciliation model including a “pre-COP” event in the Pacific that also served as a pledging event for the Pacific Resilience Fund.

“Obviously it would be great for Australia to have it all. But we can’t have it all,” he said on Thursday (AEDT).

Some critics of the proposal, including Opposition Leader Sussan Ley, noted the potential cost of holding the summit, estimated at over $2 billion.

“I think Turkey is doing the Australian government a big favour,” she told the ABC on Thursday.

“Last year we had a $12 billion deficit. We’re heading for a $42 billion deficit next year, and meanwhile this prime minister wants to spend $2 billion to organize a talkfest in this country?”

Greens leader Larissa Waters claimed the government’s push for homeownership rights was “greenwashing” climate records.

“The Prime Minister has never wanted to host a climate conference that requires him to be honest about the future of coal and gas while mining companies watch,” he wrote on social media.