By the time ministers arrived in Bel\u00e9m for COP30, negotiations had gone \u201cback to square one<\/a>\u201d, according to Halil Hasar, director of T\u00fcrkiye\u2019s Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change.<\/p>\n Yet the countries eventually struck a creative agreement where T\u00fcrkiye provides the venue, Australia co-facilitates negotiations, and Pacific nations host a Pre-COP meeting in their region, having previously planned to co-host COP31 with Australia.<\/p>\n Such creative diplomacy is probably only possible in a world where US hegemony no longer features in the climate space and EU leadership is constrained by mounting fiscal pressures. The challenge now, however, is not just to forge a new partnership, but to deliver.<\/p>\n While the structure of COP31 is new, it draws on a long tradition of the UNFCCC utilising co-chairs to move negotiations along. During COP30, Brazil\u2019s Ana Toni took on the role of executive director, while her compatriot Andr\u00e9 Corr\u00eaa do Lago was the official COP30 president. Their balance of high-level diplomacy and textual engagement may offer a glimpse into how next year\u2019s partnership could work. There had been a similar split between executive management and presidency at COP29 in Baku the year before.<\/p>\n Australia\u2019s climate minister, Chris Bowen, will likely take on a similar negotiating role to that of Toni, leveraging his close personal relationships with Pacific leaders, while taking on the bureaucratic burden of drafting a COP31 agreement. T\u00fcrkiye will likely take on the official presidency, led by Minister of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change Murat Kurum, with a key leadership role played by Halil Hasar. It is expected that first lady Emine Erdo\u011fan will also play a prominent role in COP31.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not the first COP to have split the hosting and negotiating responsibilities. Recent precedents include Spain and Chile (COP25) and Fiji and Germany (COP23). In these cases, however, co-hosting was effectively required due to logistical limitations in Fiji and political unrest in Chile. The T\u00fcrkiye-Australia model separates venue management from negotiation leadership by design, perhaps correctly anticipating the scale and complexity of the COP31 agenda.<\/p>\n How can the countries complement each other?<\/p>\n Antalya is a great location for an international summit, with its world-class facilities, straightforward Turkish visa procedures and affordable travel routes. The city reportedly<\/a> has more than 600,000 hotel beds and a full-scale congress centre capable of handling COP-level events.<\/p>\n Cost is another key factor. After a series of highly expensive COPs and ongoing UNFCCC budget challenges, Antalya offers a much lower-cost alternative for attendees and hosts alike.<\/p>\n T\u00fcrkiye\u2019s geographic and diplomatic position, straddling Europe, the Middle East and Russia, makes it an essential bridge between otherwise distant actors in the increasingly multipolar world of climate politics.<\/p>\n Its renewable generation also outpaces Australia in absolute terms, with 156\u202fterawatt-hours (TWh) of renewable electricity generation in 2024, compared with Australia\u2019s 98.8\u202fTWh, according to Ember<\/a>. T\u00fcrkiye\u2019s extensive industrial-scale experience in solar and wind could offer a complementary push to advance the UN\u2019s renewable energy goals.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Recommended<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Australia, meanwhile, brings deep experience in UNFCCC negotiations, strong ties with Pacific nations, and emerging climate diplomacy credentials. As the \u201cpresident of negotiations\u201d, it can leverage these networks to accelerate progress, particularly on renewable energy and just transitions in coal-dependent regions.<\/p>\n By not hosting, Australia avoids domestic political and financial distractions. The costs of hosting became a hot button issue in Australia in recent weeks. And on returning to Australia, climate minister Chris Bowen was attacked for his new international role at COP31 over concerns he would be a \u201cpart-time minister<\/a>\u201d at home. While this isn\u2019t the view held by many across the country, it gives a snapshot of the much larger political headwinds that would have been felt in the coming year if Australia\u2019s hosting bid had been successful. By focusing on negotiation leadership rather than venue management, Australia can concentrate on bridging divides and pushing forward tangible outcomes.<\/p>\n Moreover, its experience in rooftop solar and grid integration can pair with T\u00fcrkiye\u2019s industrial-scale know-how in domestic solar manufacturing to create opportunities for practical collaboration on renewables, industrial decarbonisation and regional energy transitions.<\/p>\n How about alignment on COP31 themes?<\/p>\n It\u2019s unclear how much of the COP31 agenda will be shaped by the new presidency partnership, rather than Australia alone as negotiations lead. But in addition to renewables, there are at least two opportunities that both countries would likely want to see progress on.<\/p>\n Firstly, steel production is falling behind on shifting from coal to electricity. T\u00fcrkiye is one of the world\u2019s largest electric arc furnace steel producers and well positioned<\/a> to shift toward greener steelmaking. At the same time, Australia\u2019s role as the world\u2019s biggest iron ore exporter, along with its abundant renewable energy resources, have led many to believe<\/a> the country\u2019s future superpower could be in supplying low-carbon green iron to the world. There are key hurdles to overcome in both countries, however, especially in regards to production costs and green steel demand<\/a>. COP31 offers an opportunity to explore these common interests, and expand on the Bel\u00e9m Declaration on Global Green Industrialization<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Australia-delegates-at-COP30_UN-Climate-Change_Kiara-Worth_ecfa81bf77.jpg\")
Chris Bowen,\u00a0Australia\u2019s Minister for Climate Change and Energy, at COP30 (Image: Kiara Worth<\/a> \/ UN Climate Change<\/a>, CC BY-NC-SA<\/a>)<\/p>\n