The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP31) in Antalya, Turkey, has brought together leaders from around the world to discuss climate change.
The summit is also becoming an important diplomatic gathering, with leaders using the opportunity to hold bilateral meetings, strengthen regional relationships, and discuss conflicts that have little direct connection to the environment.
It looks to be more about networking than climate change.
The conference, which began on Monday and continues until November 20, comes amid growing global developments and tensions, including the US war with Iran, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and conflicts across the Middle East.
These developments have increasingly overshadowed the climate agenda, even as UN officials warn that the world is failing to make sufficient progress in addressing global warming.
Turkey has sought to use the summit to position itself as a center of international diplomacy.
According to Turkey’s Anadolu Agency, a state-run news agency, 102 leaders representing 95 countries and seven international organizations are expected to attend COP31. The participants include 37 heads of state, 35 heads of government, eight vice presidents, and numerous other senior officials. Representatives from 196 countries and the European Union are expected to participate in the broader conference.
The scale of the gathering provides Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with an opportunity to meet leaders from across the world and showcase Turkey’s diplomatic influence. It appears this now overshadows the climate agenda.
Images from the summit showed Erdogan posing for a group photograph with visiting leaders. After the photograph, he was seen linking arms with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and speaking with him.
The meetings with the leaders illustrate how international summits have become opportunities for informal diplomacy, particularly among leaders who already maintain close bilateral relationships.
Syria is front and center. It has also used COP31 to demonstrate its growing diplomatic engagement.
Syria's opportunity to demonstrate return to regional, international diplomacy
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa attended the conference with his wife, Latifa al-Droubi. Their meeting with Erdogan’s wife, Emine, had humanitarian and social dimensions, according to Syrian media outlets.
For Syria, which has been seeking to expand its diplomatic relationships following the fall of the Assad regime, participation in international gatherings offers an opportunity to demonstrate its return to regional and international diplomacy. Droubi has not participated in many international meetings like this.
Iraq has also used the conference for diplomatic engagement. According to the Iraqi News Agency, Iraqi President Nizar Amidi met Erdogan and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday on the sidelines of COP31.
These meetings highlight the importance of the summit as a venue for bilateral discussions, particularly for Middle Eastern countries that are trying to improve their relationships and upgrade ties.
Iraq has many internal crises, and the conference helps it project the impression that it is a stable state.
Iran, meanwhile, used the climate conference to raise issues directly connected to its conflict with the United States and Israel.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said his country should be compensated for environmental damage allegedly caused by US and Israeli military strikes.
“We expect the global community to establish a genuine and meaningful link between climate commitments in times of peace and responsibility in times of war, to document and assess the environmental damages caused by military aggression, and to develop compensation mechanisms,” Saudi Arabia-based newspaper Arab News quoted him as saying.
His remarks show how the climate conference has become another platform for countries to advance positions related to ongoing conflicts. Alongside Brazil and others, Iran is clearly making inroads in demonstrating how US influence can’t isolate it.
Iran’s demands come amid continuing tensions with Washington and Israel. Tehran has sought to pretend that the environmental consequences of military operations are part of the wider international debate over climate responsibility.
The growing prominence of geopolitical disputes, however, has also raised concerns among leaders who believe climate change is being pushed aside.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who was recently reelected, criticized the declining attention given to climate issues at major international gatherings.
“Climate change disappeared from the speeches and documents of global leaders at the G7 and G20 meetings, forums that bring together the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitters,” he said Wednesday, according to state-run broadcaster TRT (Turkish Radio and Television Corporation). “This concern turned into silence.”
Agence France-Presse (AFP), a Paris-based news agency, quoted Guterres as saying: “The brutal truth is that the climate crisis is outrunning us.”
He criticized the influence of fossil-fuel companies and called for stronger international action, the report said.
Despite these warnings, expectations for major breakthroughs at COP31 appear limited. In fact, Guterres is supposed to be replaced soon, so this could be his last soapbox to stand on.
Several prominent world leaders are absent from the summit, AFP reported. US President Donald Trump is not attending, while Chinese President Xi Jinping is being represented by Vice President Han Zheng. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also absent.
Several major European leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, also are not attending.
British Prime Minister Andy Burnham is apparently the only leader from a G7 country scheduled to address the summit. The absence of some other Western leaders from the world’s largest economies is clear.
“It is a shame that some of the bigger European leaders aren’t coming,” Cosima Cassel, a climate diplomacy expert at E3G, told AFP. “We need Europe to be showing up strongly at this COP.”
The European Union’s top climate official, Wopke Hoekstra, acknowledged that “expectations are not necessarily high” for the conference, according to media reports.
Turkey has sought to advance its own climate initiatives. Erdogan has called for a “fair” energy transition that recognizes the different development needs and energy security concerns of individual countries.
The proposal reflects Turkey’s effort to present itself as a bridge between developed and developing economies, while also advancing its broader diplomatic role.
The contrast between the formal climate agenda and the diplomatic activity surrounding COP31 is obvious. This is more about networking than climate.
For leaders from Iraq, Syria, Iran, and other countries, the summit offers an opportunity to engage with counterparts, raise political grievances, and strengthen relationships. For Turkey, it provides a platform to demonstrate its ability to convene leaders from across competing geopolitical blocs.
COP31 will be remembered more for the diplomatic conversations taking place on its sidelines than for the meager climate commitments made inside the conference halls.