Australia is currently engaged in a hotly contested battle with Türkiye for the hosting rights of the next (31st) COP climate change summit. This critical summit is planned to happen in 2026. The Australian government has put forth several proposals to Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan that aim to maintain Australia’s presidency while allowing Türkiye to play a significant role in hosting the summit. This diplomatic achievement underscores, once again, the important nature of working together. The Pacific nations themselves are only too happy to be the stars of the show during the event.
Surangel Whipps Jr., the President of Palau has expressed his concern. For Ceylan, it’s a fair question to ask whether Türkiye’s co-presidency proposal with Australia is realistic. He claims that such an arrangement only “can’t work.” He points out that Australia and the Pacific would have a compelling case to host COP31 without needing any outside help.
The Importance of Australian Leadership
Whipps Jr. has called on Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to join her at next year’s plenary global UN climate summit in Brazil. His presence would be instrumental in not only getting solid support behind Australia’s proposal but getting to a possible resolution with Türkiye.
“Voice, and his presence there, I think, will represent the importance of a Pacific COP, and hopefully can push Türkiye over the line,” – Mr. Whipps
For the entire month of October, Albanese was on the move, flying around the globe. His international itinerary over this period included the United States, the United Kingdom, and South Korea. His frenetic COP31 winning race only highlights the urgency behind needing to win COP31 hosting rights even while these races are still contested.
Whipps Jr. wants to shift the department’s perspective so that time is the priority. Now, it’s crunch time! We’re just 12 months away. Australia will need every second to get ready and be fully prepared for COP,” he said. In the conclusion, he weighed whether Türkiye would be able to understand the relevance of this topic to the Pacific island countries.
Challenges Facing Negotiations
This is not the first time negotiations between Australia and Türkiye have hit a wall. No surprise that both countries compete for leadership roles in other climate discussions. Like many other nations, Türkiye is hungry to prove its climate-action bona fides. At the same time, Australia wants to highlight its leadership role within the Pacific bloc of nations.
Whipps Jr. drew on examples from foreign counterparts who typically lead on issues such as droughts and storms driven by climate change. For our Pacific neighbours, these risks are immediate and multifaceted. Hopefully Türkiye can realize how crucially important this is to the Pacific,” he added.
He went on, “And that’s why it’s even more important that we get the opportunity to make this a Pacific COP.”
A Call for Unity in Climate Action
The working group discussions highlight the importance of coming together collectively and multilaterally to meet climate change challenges that Pacific nations face first and most. Whipps Jr. said the key to receiving international support is to simply show their battles.
“This is what we need to show our friends from around the world, so they understand the challenges we face,” – Mr. Whipps
He called on Türkiye to take Australia’s proposals seriously. This is an important step to avoid a dead end that would threaten to sink important negotiations at COP30 in Brazil next month.
