Tuvalu, tiny Pacific nation at the forefront of climate crisis, to host world leaders before Cop31 summit | Cop31
Tuvalu, the Pacific nation at the forefront of the global climate crisis, will host a special meeting of world leaders ahead of this year’s COP31 summit; conference chair expresses “full confidence” that Chris Bowen will lead tough negotiations.
Turkish Climate Minister Murat Kurum is attending the November summit as a presidential candidate, where world leaders will gather in Antalya to determine new targets to reduce carbon emissions.
After a protracted battle with Australia over hosting rights, the Authority used its first letter to global partners overnight to announce plans for a pre-summit meeting in Fiji in October.
He and Bowen, Australia’s energy and emissions minister, will hold a special leaders’ event in Tuvalu as part of the preparations.
The main leaders’ summit will take place in Antalya, Türkiye, on 11-12 November as part of a joint model agreed between the Albanian government and the administration of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The institution said that Bowen and the Turkish president’s administration have a common goal and that they will work in sincere cooperation.
“I have full faith in his work,” the agency said of Bowen, who will have “exclusive authority” over the negotiations.
“We will bring together our diplomatic, geopolitical and economic strengths to advance the fight against climate change, help increase climate resilience and accelerate the clean energy transition that is already underway and is irreversible but must proceed faster.”
Ahead of the COP31 summit, Bowen met with Germany’s minister of state for environment and climate action, Jochen Flasbarth, in Canberra to discuss preparations and the global energy shock from the Middle East.
Flasbarth told Guardian Australia that the war in Iran and moves by European countries to increase defense spending should not distract from global efforts to reduce carbon emissions.
He said the world should seek faster electrification in heavy-duty transportation, manufacturing and home technologies.
“All of this is terrible, but on top of this disaster in the Middle East, it also takes away the attention that is desperately needed for global challenges and that is not going to go away just because there is war,” Flasbarth said.
“This could create new momentum for the Police in Antalya, including those who are a little reluctant for countries to be more open, for us to take the next steps to move away from fossil fuels.”
Renewable energy sources will account for approximately 60% of Germany’s energy supply, while coal will account for approximately 22% in 2024. The country’s last coal-fired power plants are due to be phased out by 2038, but some have been brought back online in recent weeks due to the crisis arising from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Flasbarth said faster efforts were needed to promote electrification, including in passenger and freight vehicle technology, as is happening in Australia.
“Electrification is the primary path we should all be on,” he said.
“We started too late. We should have started this transformation much earlier, and now our companies are surprised that China is faster. But no one forced our industry to be so reluctant to invest in electric vehicles, and I’m sure we will catch up… because it is one of the backbones of our national industries.”
Darling Downs cattle farmer Sally Higgins was named the summit’s youth climate champion. The talks will include the basic principles of “dialogue, consensus and action”.
