Kurum, the Turkish climate change minister, told the Guardian the world was \u201calready in a transition\u201d and suggested fossil fuel use could be addressed indirectly through other steps.<\/p>\n
Kurum was among national leaders and ministers, officials and civil society members in Fiji this week to prepare for Cop31, which will take place in the Turkish city of Antalya in November. Australia, which has the new role of \u201cpresident of negotiations\u201d at Cop31, had pushed to hold the pre-Cop meeting in the Pacific<\/a> to bring attention to island nations.<\/p>\n Fijian dancers perform at the summit\u2019s welcome ceremony. Photograph: Hilary Wardhaugh\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Geopolitical turmoil from war, a historic energy crisis and an unpredictable and climate-denying US administration \u2013 combined with the knowledge that many would be attending the main climate summit in a few weeks \u2013 meant only 13 national leaders joined Australia\u2019s prime minister, Anthony Albanese, in the Fijian city of Nadi, and most were from the Pacific.<\/p>\n But there were also about 30 ministers, including from India and European nations, representatives from the big emitters China and Saudi Arabia, the heads of global agencies and about 4,000 other attenders.<\/p>\n On Tuesday, a delegation flew north to see Tuvalu<\/a>, a low-lying atoll country of about 10,000 people that is among the most at risk from the climate crisis. They were shown a 20-hectare (49-acre) land reclamation project and heard stories of life in a country that is mostly only about 2 metres above sea level, and where rising waters, storm surges and intensifying extreme weather pose an accelerating threat to survival.<\/p>\n In a powerful speech, Melelusi Sokotia, 13, told the visitors her friends\u2019 dreams to be \u201cteachers, doctors, builders\u201d were being subsumed by the question of whether they could \u201cgrow safely here in Tuvalu\u201d.<\/p>\n Back in Nadi, Fiji\u2019s climate minister, Lynda Tabuya, was moved to tears and received a standing ovation during her closing address. She urged delegates to \u201cremember the people you met\u201d and \u201ccarry something of the Pacific with you\u201d.<\/p>\n Tabuya said: \u201cThis pre-Cop draws to a close tonight. Our responsibility does not.\u201d<\/p>\n Fiji\u2019s climate minister, Lynda Tabuya (centre), receives applause during the summit\u2019s closing session on Thursday. Photograph: Pacific pre-Cop31\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n The governments of about 190 countries will head to Antalya with clear evidence that responsibility is not being met. A recent report by the UN environment programme warned that under the most optimistic future, global heating would reach at least 1.8C<\/a>, well beyond the 1.5C ceiling of the Paris climate agreement. It called for immediate and sustained emissions cuts and said every fraction of a degree of heating avoided would save lives and reduce economic losses.<\/p>\n Throughout the pre-Cop, Pacific leaders repeated their demands: that countries must act to \u201ckeep 1.5C alive\u201d, that climate finance must be easily accessible for poor and vulnerable communities who have not caused the problem but are most at risk, and that the health of oceans must be prioritised.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Sign up to Down to Earth<\/p>\n The planet’s most important stories. Get all the week’s environment news – the good, the bad and the essential<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Australia\u2019s climate change minister, Chris Bowen, said only 0.2% of global climate finance was spent helping small island developing countries adapt, and that the countries that needed it the most, such as Tuvalu, \u201cget it the least\u201d. \u201cThat has got to change,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a key priority of Cop31<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Kurum said Nato countries should be much more focused on climate spending. He said they had promised to increase their defence budgets to 5% of GDP by 2035 as a result of \u201cconcerns for their own safety and security\u201d, but had committed much less to addressing the climate crisis despite expressing concerns and it posing an even greater risk.<\/p>\n Asked if he thought as much should be spent on climate as defence, he said: \u201cMuch more.\u201d<\/p>\n Leaders attend a session at the summit. Photograph: Getty Images<\/p>\n \u201cThe climate issue is the security issue itself,\u201d Kurum told the Guardian through an interpreter. \u201cIf you don\u2019t spend one unit of money prior to the disasters, then you are left in a position where you have to spend 10 units of money after the disaster. It\u2019s cheaper pre-disaster.\u201d<\/p>\n Kurum and Bowen reiterated they would focus in Antalya on winning support for a global goal of 35% of the energy needed to run homes, businesses, factories and vehicles coming from electricity<\/a> by 2035. Now it is about 21%.<\/p>\n But the question of what direct action the global community should agree to take to phase out fossil fuels remains far more vexed.<\/p>\n Both host countries backed a multi-country statement in Fiji that supported a global \u201ctransition away from fossil fuels\u201d, echoing language adopted by the global community at Cop28 in Dubai three years ago<\/a>. But both faced criticism, and accusations of hypocrisy, for continuing to back new coal and gas developments<\/a> and being largely silent before the pre-Cop<\/a> on the need to phase out fossil fuels.<\/p>\n Chris Bowen, a Cop31 president-designate and Australia\u2019s climate minister, chairs a session on Thursday. Photograph: Saeed Khan\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Bowen said the way to stop using fossil fuels was not to cut supply of the dirty fuel but to build enough renewable energy so there would be no need for fossil fuel power plants.<\/p>\n Kurum said the world was \u201calready in a transition\u201d and suggested the focus at climate talks on wording about transitioning away from fossil fuels might not be productive as he did not think further progress could be made. Delegates from some countries, including Saudi Arabia, Russia and other oil-producing states, strongly opposed naming fossil fuels at Cop30<\/a> in Brazil.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1791711159_793_500.jpg\")
<\/p>\n