Arab News | UN climate chief urges speed as COP31 confronts fossil fuel divide

ANTALYA: The UN’s top climate official urged negotiators at the COP31 conference in Turkiye on Saturday to move swiftly toward a deal and “avoid tactical delays” as the summit heads into its second and final week.

The annual UN climate conference faces new challenges this year as a slew of crises from war to inflation push global warming down the list of priorities for world governments.

“Each country has a view. Every country has a voice. Getting agreement on every word, every sentence is tough but vital work,” Simon Stiell told the summit. “There is no collective success without compromise from every party.”

“As we head into the second week, I urge parties to move swiftly to the hardest issues and to avoid tactical delays.”

Big fossil fuel producers and consumers at the talks are resisting any deal that would specify firm new targets or a shift away from oil, gas and coal, observers said, posing a challenge for summit host Turkiye and lead negotiator Australia to land the kind of ambitious agreement climate advocates say is needed to address global warming.

A UN report last month found the world is already on course to exceed the 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) warming threshold, a limit scientists say should prevent the worst effects of climate change.

Australia’s COP31 President of Negotiations Chris Bowen said he expected a first draft of a deal text to emerge early next week.

TURKEY’S ELECTRIFICATION PLAN

Turkiye is striving to place a proposal to expand global electrification at the center of an eventual deal, saying the plan will lead to faster emissions cuts by speeding the shift away from fossil fuel-powered cars, boilers, furnaces and other equipment.

The proposal does not require the increased electricity use to come from renewable sources, however, disappointing observers and delegations that want countries to more clearly map out their transition away from fossil fuels.

Major oil producers such as Saudi Arabia and Russia have traditionally resisted language constraining fossil fuels, while large developing economies such as India have opposed measures they say could limit their development and energy choices, a dynamic that has compromised the outcomes of past deals.

The world’s biggest oil consumer, the United States, meanwhile, has skipped the talks for the second year in a row under President Donald Trump, who has called global warming a hoax and promoted continued use of fossil fuels.

Asked how he viewed the progress in talks so far, Stiell said: “All I can say at this stage is engagement has been constructive. We know where those natural tensions lie.”