UN climate chief warns COP31 negotiators against playing politics
14.11.2026
At the halfway point of the World Climate Conference in Turkey, UN climate chief Simon Stiell is urging negotiators to compromise in the pursuit of ambitious targets.
"At the start of the second week, I urge parties to move swiftly to the hardest issues and avoid tactical delays," Stiell said on Saturday, addressing diplomats from nearly 200 countries at the 31st UN Climate Change Conference (COP31) in Antalya.
The conference focuses on the goal of stronger and faster electrification across all regions of the world, as well as access to climate finance for vulnerable nations, Stiell said.
The negotiations on the 165 agenda items are complex, Stiell acknowledged.
"Each country has a view. Every country has a voice. Getting agreement on every word, every sentence is tough but vital work. There is no collective success without compromise from every party."
Meanwhile, according to Greenpeace Germany head Martin Kaiser, the interim assessment of European engagement at the event is sobering.
Germany's Environment Minister Carsten Schneider, who arrives on Monday, must advocate during the second and decisive week for three points to be included in the final declaration, Kaiser said. These include a green electrification target, concrete plans for phasing out oil, gas and coal, and an end to deforestation.
On electrification, Australia, which is co-president of the conference, wants to agree on a goal to increase the share of electricity in global final energy consumption from the current 23% to 35% by 2035. This refers to all energy used for things like driving, heating, cooling or plugged-in devices at home.
Greater electrification in the transport, building and industry sectors brings major efficiency gains. According to calculations by the International Energy Agency (IEA), this could reduce harmful CO2 emissions from these sectors by 40% by 2035 in a best-case scenario.
The more this electricity comes from renewable sources like solar, wind and hydropower, the better for climate protection.
Funding disputes heat up
Differences over funding became heated at times in the negotiating rooms during the first week.
African nations in particular pushed for donor countries to provide clarity and to document who will provide how much money, and when, for their adaptation to the worsening climate crisis - and how this will be transparently tracked.
The problem stems from a certain vagueness in the resolution from COP30 in Brazil. While that resolution decided that wealthy nations should triple their adaptation aid by 2035, this lacked a baseline year, interim steps and a concrete final amount.
Sabine Minninger of the German non-governmental organization (NGO) Brot für die Welt (Bread for the World) expressed understanding for the Africans' impatience:
"The fact that people in Africa are plagued by severe droughts, crop failures and floods due to global warming is simply ignored by industrialized nations at the negotiating table when they refuse to talk about money," she told dpa.
Issued on: 11/11/2026
Video by: Valérie DEKIMPE
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