Day 1: November 9
Greetings from Antalya and COP31!
Any veteran COP delegates arriving at the venue on Monday morning would have been forgiven for suffering flashbacks to December 2009, though I'm certain that 17 years ago we managed to get into the Copenhagen venue a little quicker than we did today. I logged four hours and 18 minutes between arriving at the back of the line to being handed my lanyard!
The COP31 venue and its logistics are still a little rough around the edges, but the pavilions are all up and running, there are plenty of delegates walking the floors, and – oh yes – the formal portion of the summit has begun. The long delays in getting into the site meant there was precious little time to drink in the atmosphere or do important research on coffee vendors before the agenda got underway.
Opening the conference, COP31 President Murat Kurum reminded delegates that the Baku to Belem Roadmap finance agreement reached two years ago called for $300 billion to be mobilised on the way to an eventual target of $1.3 trillion a year by 2035.
President Kurum called for COP31 to become an “implementation COP”, focusing on closing the gap between the commitments made at COP, and tangible improvements in people’s lives.
Turkey has set a goal for COP31 of achieving an agreement amongst Parties to increase electricity’s share of final energy consumption to 35% by 2035 from their current 20% share.
And Chris Bowen, Australia's climate and energy minister, who is president of the negotiations here in Antalya, brought a message from the Pacific pre-COP meeting: that the 1.5 degrees target needs to be kept within reach and finance must be easier to access. "Climate change is here: it is the lived reality for billions of people" he said. "But our response is growing," he added, referring to a doubling in renewables output, in increases in finance and more ambitious NDCs.
UNFCCC Executive Secretary Simon Stiell echoed Turkey's emphasis in electricity, saying "this year's fossil fuel cost chaos has delivered a global shockwave, hitting households hard and spreading inflation like a cancer."
"But the solutions are clear: global renewables saved US$265 billion in the first half of this year alone. It’s in every country’s interest to limit global heating, and protect every community and economy.”
Stiell also addressed another elephant in the room: UNFCCC's own finances. "We too face our challenges," he said. "Mandates are growing. Funds are shrinking. We've delivered extensive efficiencies and we will continue do so, but serious work is needed on our budget consultations. We can't keep doing more with less."
And while high-level negotiations on topics like these will dominate the headlines as they usually do, carbon markets will continue to play a key role at COP. In his welcome note to our COP31 Business Hub programme, Dirk noted that "this year marks a distinct shift in emphasis as we transition from the debate and development stages to the operational stage of Article 6."
"Operational aspects include not only the build-out of the Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism – but they also include a wide range of cooperative approaches built around national carbon markets, independent crediting programmes and international coalitions. That’s why we expect that carbon markets to continue to be a major topic of conversation across the COP."
In the negotiations
The opening plenaries of COP, CMP and CMA adopted their respective agendas for the coming fortnight.
The COP agenda will feature a late addendum, requested by Nepal and Bhutan, covering "matters relating to 1.5°C warming in mountain ecosystems", reflecting the landslides and floods that struck the region just over two months ago.
Finance dominates the discussions to be held under the CMA track: adaptation, the Green Climate Fund, loss & damage, and the Baku to Belem Roadmap to $1.3 trillion.
CMA will also work to advance the United Arab Emirates just transition work programme and the Sharm el-Sheikh mitigation ambition and implementation work programme, and will try to develop further guidance on features of Nationally Determined Contributions.
Late additions to the CMA discussions include a request by the African Group to discuss a tripling of adaptation finance, and a proposal by Ghana to open a dialogue on trade and climate change.
The CMA's agenda also covers all three tracks of Article 6, including:
- implementation of the guidance on cooperative approaches referred to in Article 6, paragraph 2, of the Paris Agreement;
- the annual report of the Supervisory Body and guidance for the mechanism established by Article 6, paragraph 4, of the Paris Agreement, and
- the work programme under the framework for non-market approaches referred to in Article 6, paragraph 8, of the Paris Agreement and in decision 4/CMA.3.
IETA has developed a in-depth set of policy priorities for the Article 6 negotiations, which you can find on our website, and we'll share links to draft documents and decisions as they become available.
Lastly, the CMP track of the talks will consider what will be the final ever annual report of the CDM Executive Board before the mechanism is closed on December 31 this year – though the CDM registry will continue to operate until July 2027.
Tomorrow at COP
As alluded to above, IETA's activities in Antalya reflect a shift in the focus of market-oriented discussions at COP. After the final political decisions were reached in Baku two years ago, the focus at the UN level has become more about implementation and operation.
As a result, the dialogue is moving beyond the plenaries and "informal-informal" contact groups and spreading among the pavilions and delegation offices across the COP venue. IETA's policy team is fanning out across the Blue Zone to participate in more and more side events and discussions, and much of what we report back from COP31 will not be the outcome of formal negotiations, but the flavour of informal exchanges amongst Parties and stakeholders.
And our work here has already begun – on Monday IETA staff members joined events covering carbon removals in Europe, REDD+, and the Article 6.2 Ambition Dialogue.
The Article 6.2 Ambition Dialogue focused on authorisation and ambition, exploring how countries make decisions on whether, what and how much to authorise as internationally transferred mitigation outcomes (ITMOs), while safeguarding their NDC achievement, environmental integrity and long-term climate ambition.
IETA's Agustina Cundari delivered a statement emphasising that clear, transparent and predictable authorisation procedures are essential to mobilise private investment and scale Article 6 activities. IETA stressed the importance of engaging the private sector to ensure that rules are workable and provide the certainty investors need. Our message was clear: predictable authorisation frameworks are essential to turn Article 6 cooperation into investment and mitigation outcomes at scale.
On Tuesday, our team will be participating in a wide variety of events beyond the IETA Business Hub:
- discussing with the NDRC China's pathway to peaking its emissions (1100 TST, China Pavilion);
- joining the Global Sustainable Aviation Forum (1100 TST, Turkish Pavilion);
- discussing nature in the Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism with the Nature Conservancy (1200 TST, TNC Pavilion);
- an ASEAN-Korea Article 6 round table (1245 TST, Asia Climate Solutions (ACS) Pavilion);
- participating at a UNFCCC event on transitioning away from fossil fuels (1300 TST, Plenary II);
- unlocking Indonesia’s carbon market potential for climate action and sustainable
finance (1330 TST, Indonesia Pavilion); - practical pathways to Article 6 for carbon credit projects (1430 TST, WFF Pavilion);
- the annual COP meeting of the Article 6 Ambition Alliance (1530 TST, Benelux Pavilion), and
- launching the SB COP Carbon Market Pathfinder (1700 TST, Implementation Hub Pavilion).
And at the IETA Business Hub, we have a full slate of side events as well. The schedule is on our website.
At 0800 TST (three hours ahead of GMT), IETA members Patch will host an event on scope 3 emissions, looking at what emissions companies can fund, measure and claim.
At 1000 TST, we host Indonesian government representatives who will present the regulatory direction of the country's carbon market, its link with Article 6, and gather feedback from market participants.
At 1130 TST, Kapsarc and MSCI join forces to look at whether capital markets reward companies for sustainability commitments and performance.
Marsh join us at 1300 TST to explore the evolving insurance needs of carbon market participants and to showcase how innovation can support more resilient, investable carbon activity.
At 1645, IETA will join the European University Institute, Oeko-Institut and Tsinghua University to discuss whether high-integrity carbon credits and ETSs can help finance sustainable development in the Global South at a time when development assistance is stagnating. This event will take place in Side Event Room 7 in the Blue Zone.
All event times are listed in Turkey Standard Time time (TST), which is three hours ahead of GMT and five hours behind Singapore time.
The IETA Business Pavilion is located in Delegation Pavilion Area B2, on stand C525. Our Boardroom is in the Delegation Office area C3, stand DO-17.