World leaders set out clashing priorities as COP31 turns to negotiations

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Developing countries reiterate requests that they have made during many years of UN talks for rich countries to provide more finance to help them shift to cleaner energy, adapt to a warming world, and repair climate-driven destruction

LIGHTS ON. A drone light show displays the COP31 logo during the UN Climate Change Conference (COP31) in Antalya, Turkey, on November 11, 2026.

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ANTALYA, Turkey – World leaders have set out competing positions and made clashing demands in two days of intense speech-making at the COP31 climate change talks in Turkey, leaving negotiators with a tough task to draft a meaningful deal that all can agree.

Small island states, among the most vulnerable in the world as global warming makes sea levels rise, pleaded for urgent cuts to greenhouse gas emissions.

European leaders, meanwhile, lined up behind a proposal to expand global electrification, developing countries asked for more finance from rich ones, and fossil fuel producers said oil, gas, and coal should continue to be used.

“We reaffirm our sovereign right to strengthen our energy and oil industry as a driver of our national development,” Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodriguez told the conference, after UN leaders had made the case for bringing to an end the age of fossil fuel.

Apart from trying to accommodate incompatible national positions aired on Wednesday, November 11 and Thursday, November 12, conference host Turkey and negotiations lead Australia also have the challenge of trying to make progress when wars and inflation have pushed climate concerns down the political agenda.

“It’s my job to steer consensus, not to bang tables and demand any particular action, but to steer consensus to the strongest, most ambitious possible outcome within the constraints of that consensus-driven process,” Chris Bowen, Australia’s COP31 president of negotiations, told Reuters.

Asked what a good deal might look like, he said: “I have many more hours of consultations with partners to do.”

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