Global Leaders Gather for COP31 Climate Summit in Turkiye Amid Notable Absences

World leaders are taking the stage at the COP31 climate summit in Turkiye, though several prominent names are missing from the annual UN event. The two-week conference is taking place in the Mediterranean resort city of Antalya from November 9 to November 20, 2026, with Australia presiding over the negotiations. Governments face mounting pressure to address the climate crisis following a year marked by heatwaves in Europe, deadly floods in Nepal, and major wildfires in Indonesia.

Leaders Attending And Missing

Dozens of leaders are speaking during the high-level segment on Wednesday and Thursday, including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and Iran's Masoud Pezeshkian. However, observers note the absence of major figures. British Prime Minister Andy Burnham is the only leader from a G7 country scheduled to address the summit. While European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen is attending in Antalya, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni are skipping the event. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Japanese counterpart Sanae Takaichi are also absent. The French government explained that President Macron is skipping the event because November 11 is World War I Armistice Day and he will attend an EU summit in Ireland on Thursday. U.S. President Donald Trump, who pulled the United States out of the Paris Agreement and has not sent officials to climate talks since his 2024 re-election, is also not attending. Chinese President Xi Jinping is being represented by Vice President Han Zheng, as he rarely attends COPs.

Reactions And Goals

Cosima Cassel, a climate diplomacy expert at the think-tank E3G, called it a shame that bigger European leaders are not coming and noted that Europe needs to show up strongly. Wopke Hoekstra, the EU's top climate official, stated that the absences were not completely atypical due to practical reasons, but added that expectations are not necessarily high for the conference. Chiara Martinelli, director of Climate Action Network Europe, warned that Ursula von der Leyen would be lonely on the stage while the leaders of the biggest EU economies are a no-show. Climate campaigners breathed a sigh of relief over the presence of Brazilian President Lula da Silva, who has championed cutting deforestation rates after defeating right-wing rival Flavio Bolsonaro in last month's election. Meanwhile, COP31 host Turkiye is championing a voluntary initiative to speed up the electrification of transport, buildings, and industry, aiming to raise electricity's share of global energy consumption to 35 percent by 2035. The EU has stressed that this electrification must be clean, which could spark debate over the role of oil, gas, and coal in the Turkish proposal.

Context

Annual UN climate summits bring together global governments to negotiate targets and coordinate action against climate change. The United States and China remain the world's top economies and biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, making their engagement crucial for international climate agreements. Nations have struggled to advance the goal of transitioning away from fossil fuels since first agreeing to it in 2023.