The COP31 climate meeting is now expected to be held in Turkey after Australia dropped its bid to host the annual event.
Under the UN rules, the right to host the COP in 2026 falls to a group of countries made up of Western Europe, Australia and others.
A consensus must be reached, but neither country has been willing to concede. Australia has now agreed to support the Turkish bid in return for their minister chairing the talks following negotiations at COP30, currently being held in Brazil.
This unusual arrangement has taken observers by surprise. It is normal for a COP president to be from the host country, and how this new partnership will work in practice remains to be seen.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has called the compromise with Turkey an “outstanding result” in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), noting Pacific issues would be “front and centre”.
He added that he had spoken to Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape and Prime Minister Rabuka of Fiji.
However, Papua New Guinea’s Foreign Minister Justin Tkatchenko told the AFP news agency, “We are all not happy. And disappointed it’s ended up like this”.
Solomon Islands leader Jeremiah Manele earlier told the ABC he would be “disappointed” if Australia didn’t secure the event.
Despite this, there will be relief among countries currently meeting at COP30 in the Brazilian city of Belém that a compromise has been reached, as the lack of agreement on the venue was becoming an embarrassment for the UN.
Australia has pushed hard to have the climate summit in the city of Adelaide, arguing that they would co-host the meeting with Pacific island states, which are seen as among the most vulnerable to climate change and rising sea levels.
Turkey, which has proposed hosting COP31 in the city of Antalya, felt that it had a good claim to be the host country as it had stood aside in 2021 and allowed the UK to hold the meeting in Glasgow.
If neither country was willing to compromise, then the meeting would have been held in the German city of Bonn, the headquarters of the UN’s climate body.
As a result of discussions at COP30, a compromise appears to have been reached.
This includes a pre-COP meeting that will be held on a Pacific island, while the main event is held in Turkey. Australia’s climate minister Chris Bowen will be its president.
“Obviously, it would be great if Australia could have it all, but we can’t have it all,” Mr Bowen told reporters outside the Australian delegation offices here in Belém.
“This process works on consensus, and consensus means if someone objected to our bid, it would go to Bonn.”
“That would mean 12 months with a lack of leadership, no COP president in place, no plan, that would be irresponsible for multilateralism in this challenging environment.”
Mr Bowen believes having a COP president not from the host country will work and that he will have the considerable authority reserved for the president of these gatherings.
“As COP president of negotiations, I would have all the powers of the COP presidency to manage, to handle the negotiations, to appoint co-facilitators, to prepare draft text, to issue the cover decision,” he said.
He also confirmed to the BBC that Turkey will also appoint a president who will run the venue, organise the meetings and schedules.
Australia’s climbdown will be embarrassing for the government of Mr Albanese, after lobbying long and hard to win support among the other nations in the Western Europe group.
The compromise will have to be ratified by more than 190 countries gathered here for COP30.
Given the difficulties in getting to this compromise, there are unlikely to be any objections.
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