Please note that the COP31 venue will be closed on Sunday 15 November. Registration will be closed and there will be no activities in the Blue Zone.
Enjoy a well-deserved day of rest or take some time to see the sights.
We'll be back in action on Monday 16 November.
“Young people are not just part of COPs. You have the greatest stake in its outcomes. And your voices make this process stronger. Young people bring new perspectives, challenge us to do better, and refuse to let ambition slip,” said UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell at COP31 today.
Last year, for the first time, UN Climate Change’s report on national climate plans included a section dedicated to children and youth. Of the 64 countries covered, 88% said they had considered children and young people in their plans, or intended to do so. That is up from 61% in their previous plans.
“Young people need to be given more of a stake in designing and delivering practical solutions, because they bring a unique understanding of climate change, and can help shape what happens next,” said Stiell.
During his final press conference at COP31’s Leaders’ Summit yesterday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that this COP is “yet another reminder of how only the UN has the capacity to bring so many people and entities together to deal with the biggest challenges of our time.”
“For nearly ten years as Secretary-General, I have tried to speak the truth about climate change. Sometimes that truth has been uncomfortable. Sometimes it has been unwelcome. But my responsibility has never been to make the facts more convenient. It has been to tell the truth rooted in the science, and to be especially clear when the truth is hard.”
“Climate action must remain central to the work of the United Nations. Because this is about peace. It’s about development. It’s about human rights and justice. And ultimately, it’s about whether international cooperation can still rise to the challenges that no country can solve by itself.”
Türkiye will host the Conference and Mr. Murat Kurum has been nominated as President of COP31 in Antalya. Mr. Chris Bowen of Australia will be the President of Negotiations.
UN Climate Change Conferences (or COPs) take place every year, and are the world’s only multilateral decision-making forum on climate change that brings together almost every country on Earth.
To put it simply, the COP is where the world comes together to agree on the actions to address the climate crisis, such as limiting the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, helping vulnerable communities adapt to the effects of climate change, and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.
COP31 will bring together world leaders and negotiators from the member states (or Parties) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to further global progress, with business leaders, young people, climate scientists, Indigenous Peoples, and civil society sharing insights and best practices to strengthen global, collective and inclusive climate action.
Officially, COP31 stands for the 31st meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), a landmark international treaty agreed in 1992, and parent treaty to the 2015 Paris Agreement.