\n The deal, which resolved a lengthy standoff with both vying to host the U.N. climate talks, set out that Turkey will serve as the venue while delegating negotiating responsibilities to Australia. [Getty]<\/p>\n
Australia and Turkey finalised a deal Friday to share responsibilities for hosting next year’s UN climate summit<\/a>, resolving a long-running standoff over the event, according to the agreement.<\/p>\n The unusual compromise — in which Turkey hosts the conference but Australia oversees the formal negotiations — is expected to be formally approved by consensus at the COP30 summit in Brazil.<\/p>\n The deal was brokered in the rainforest city of Belem after days of closed-door negotiation between Australia and Turkey to end the stalemate.<\/p>\n Both countries sought to host COP31 in November 2026 and neither would back down, sparking a bidding war rarely seen for the annual climate talks.<\/p>\n Australia enjoyed greater support than Turkey but the deadlock prevented a host from being chosen by consensus as required under United Nations<\/a> rules.<\/p>\n A compromise was reached: Turkey would host the two-week summit in the Mediterranean resort city of of Antalya, and retain the formal COP31 presidency.<\/p>\n Australia would serve as vice president and chair the negotiations that strive to broker agreements between nearly 200 nations to collectively tackle climate change.<\/p>\n The “pre COP” — technical consultations that usually occur about a month before the main summit — would take place in a Pacific Island nation, in a nod to Australia’s original intention to co-host with its neighbours.<\/p>\n ‘Better than nothing’<\/p>\n The proposal was endorsed unanimously by the Western European and Other States Group, the first step required before adoption by consensus at the COP30 summit.<\/p>\n UN climate summits rotate among five regional blocs, with responsibility falling in 2026 to the group of mostly European nations, along with Australia and Turkey, among others.<\/p>\n Australia had the backing of a large majority of the bloc but without a consensus, COP31 would have defaulted to Germany, home to the UN Climate Change secretariat.<\/p>\n The outcome was a major disappointment for Australia and the Pacific, which is home to small island nation states threatened by rising sea levels and increasingly violent storms, rainfall and floods.<\/p>\n But Pacific nations would still have input into the negotiations and setting the agenda, Vanuatu’s Climate Minister Ralph Regenvanu told AFP news agency in Belem.<\/p>\n “So for us, that is a much better outcome than not having anything at all,” he said.<\/p>\n COP31 will be Turkey’s first time hosting a UN climate summit. The country ratified the Paris Agreement<\/a> only in late 2021, and analysts are sharply critical of its climate pledges.<\/p>\n