Both Australia and Turkey have been vying to be the hosts of COP31 in 2026. At a final plenary of the Bonn intersessional climate talks last week, several European countries backed Australia hosting it in partnership with Pacific island countries. A decision on where to host it will be taken by consensus by countries forming part of a group known as Western Europe and Other States, and to date none of them have supported Turkey. It was anticipated that Turkey would bow to pressure to withdraw at the Bonn Climate Talks last week, but there was no sign of that and the country has in fact ramped up its campaign. Countries have also missed the internal deadline they set to make a decision on the host for COP31 by the mid-year talks. It was reported by the Guardian, that Turkey was possibly open to backing down on the right terms, including that it no longer be treated as a “developed” country (Annex 1 Country) under the UNFCCC, but other countries were reluctant to agree to this.
