Major World Leaders Skip COP31 Climate Summit as Global Warming Intensifies

Several prominent world leaders are missing from the COP31 climate summit in Turkey, raising concerns over the level of political commitment to tackling global warming as the climate crisis intensifies.

The two-week United Nations climate conference began earlier this week in the Mediterranean resort city of Antalya, with governments facing pressure to address the effects of climate change following heatwaves in Europe, deadly floods in Nepal and major wildfires in Indonesia.

Dozens of leaders are expected to address the high-level segment of the summit on Wednesday and Thursday, including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

Major European Leaders Absent

However, the absence of several influential leaders has attracted attention, with British Prime Minister Andy Burnham reportedly the only leader from a G7 country scheduled to address the summit.

French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni are among those skipping the event. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi are also absent from the latest list of expected attendees.

European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is attending, but climate campaigners have expressed disappointment that leaders of some of Europe's largest economies will not be present.

Cosima Cassel, a climate diplomacy expert at think-tank E3G, told AFP that Europe needed to demonstrate stronger leadership at the conference.

However, the EU's climate commissioner, Wopke Hoekstra, said the absence of some leaders was not unusual, noting that practical reasons could prevent them from attending international summits.

The French government said Macron would miss the conference because of World War I Armistice Day commemorations on November 11 and an EU summit in Ireland on Thursday.

US and Chinese Presidents Also Missing

US President Donald Trump is not attending COP31. His administration withdrew the United States from the Paris Agreement and has not sent officials to climate negotiations since his re-election in 2024, according to the report.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, who rarely attends the annual climate summits, will be represented by Vice President Han Zheng.

The absence of both leaders is significant because the United States and China are the world's two largest economies and leading emitters of greenhouse gases.

Brazilian President Lula da Silva, however, is among the prominent leaders attending. Climate campaigners have welcomed his participation, pointing to his efforts to reduce deforestation in Brazil.

Turkey Pushes Global Electrification Initiative

Host country Turkey is promoting a voluntary initiative to accelerate the electrification of transport, buildings and industry, with a target of increasing electricity's share of global energy consumption to 35 per cent by 2035.

The European Union has emphasised that the transition must involve clean electricity, a position that could generate debate over the continued use of fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal.

Since countries agreed in 2023 to transition away from fossil fuels, the main driver of climate change, progress towards achieving the goal has remained difficult at successive climate conferences.

Meanwhile, researchers said global fossil fuel emissions are projected to fall slightly in 2026, partly because of the expansion of renewable energy and the oil price shock triggered by the Iran war.

AFP