The COP31 climate meeting is now expected to take place in Turkey after Australia dropped its bid to host the annual UN event, ending weeks of deadlock over the venue.
Under UN rules, the 2026 summit was due to be hosted by countries from the Western Europe and Others Group, which includes Australia. Neither Turkey nor Australia had been willing to concede until negotiations at COP30 in Brazil produced a compromise.
Australia has agreed to back Turkey’s bid in exchange for its climate minister Chris Bowen chairing the talks an unusual arrangement, as COP presidents are typically from the host country.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese hailed the deal as an “outstanding result” in an interview with ABC, stressing that Pacific issues would be front and centre. He said he had spoken with Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister James Marape and Fiji’s Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka.
But not all Pacific leaders welcomed the outcome. Papua New Guinea’s Foreign Minister Justin Tkatchenko told AFP: “We are all not happy. And disappointed it’s ended up like this.” Solomon Islands leader Jeremiah Manele had earlier said he would be “disappointed” if Australia failed to secure hosting rights.
Despite the discontent, relief spread among delegates at COP30 in Belém, Brazil, as the lack of agreement had become an embarrassment for the UN.
Australia had campaigned to host COP31 in Adelaide, proposing to co-host with Pacific island states vulnerable to climate change. Turkey, meanwhile, argued its case strongly, noting it had stepped aside in 2021 to allow the UK to host COP26 in Glasgow.
Had neither country compromised, the summit would have defaulted to Bonn, Germany, home of the UN climate body.
The final compromise will see a pre-COP meeting held on a Pacific island, while the main event takes place in Antalya, Turkey, with Australia’s Chris Bowen presiding as COP president.
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