COP31 in Antalya, Turkiye: G7 Leaders Absent as Australia Presides Over Climate Talks

The news

World leaders are taking the stage at COP31 in Antalya, Turkiye, on Wednesday and Thursday, but several prominent names are missing from the annual UN climate summit. The two-week conference, which began on November 9 and runs through November 20, 2026, is being presided over by Australia. Dozens of leaders, including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Iran’s Masoud Pezeshkian, are scheduled to speak during the high-level segment, but observers have noted the absence of most G7 leaders.

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham is the only leader from a G7 country scheduled to address the summit. French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi are all absent from the latest list, according to officials. European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen is attending, but EU climate official Wopke Hoekstra told reporters in Brussels that “expectations are not necessarily high” for this conference. The French government said Macron would be absent because November 11 is World War I Armistice Day and he will attend an EU summit in Ireland on Thursday. US President Donald Trump, who pulled the United States out of the Paris Agreement and has not sent officials to climate talks since his re-election in 2024, is not attending, and Chinese President Xi Jinping is represented by Vice President Han Zheng.

What was the 2023 COP fossil fuel agreement?

At COP28 in Dubai in 2023, nations agreed for the first time to transition away from fossil fuels, the main driver of climate change. The decision was part of the first Global Stocktake under the Paris Agreement, which assessed collective progress toward the accord's goals. The text called on parties to contribute to transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems in a just, orderly and equitable manner, accelerating action in this critical decade. The agreement was reached after intense negotiations, with many countries and civil society groups pushing for stronger language on phasing out fossil fuels, while some oil-producing nations resisted.

Why are major leaders absent?

Cosima Cassel, a climate diplomacy expert at think-tank E3G, told AFP that the absence of bigger European leaders is a shame and that Europe needs to show up strongly at this COP. Chiara Martinelli, director of Climate Action Network Europe, said she fears Ursula von der Leyen will be lonely on the stage while the leaders of the biggest EU economies are a no-show. Hoekstra said the absences were “not completely atypical” as leaders may have practical reasons for not attending. The summit follows a year of heatwaves in Europe, deadly floods in Nepal and major wildfires in Indonesia, and since the 2023 COP agreement to transition away from fossil fuels, progress has been slow.

Who is driving the agenda?

Brazilian President Lula da Silva, who championed cutting deforestation rates and defeated right-wing rival Flavio Bolsonaro in last month’s Brazilian presidential election, is attending and seen as a key leader. The EU has stressed that electrification must be “clean”, which could spark debate over the role of oil, gas and coal in the Turkish proposal. With the US and China, the world’s top economies and biggest emitters, largely absent, the onus falls on attending nations like Brazil and the EU to drive the agenda.