COP31 Opens Monday in Antalya With No Official U.S. Delegation as Guterres Calls It a 'Moment of Truth'

Ten years after the Paris Agreement entered into force, the 31st UN climate conference opens Monday, Nov. 9, in Antalya, Turkey. It runs through Nov. 20. The formal opening plenary is scheduled for 10 a.m. Monday.

It is also the final climate summit for UN Secretary-General António Guterres, whose second term ends in December.

Guterres: 'a moment of truth'

In an interview with The Associated Press, Guterres said he will tell leaders: "This is a moment of truths. We can no longer wait, we can no longer have endless discussions in which everybody tries to push the responsibility to someone else. Everybody must do more, everybody must do more now."

He said he used the phrase "moment of truth" three times in 20 minutes during the interview. He has delivered variations of the warning for a decade. In 2023 he said "the era of global boiling has arrived."

Guterres also described what he called one of the most difficult days of his life. Last year, while preparing a major climate speech, he consulted scientists. For nine years he had argued the Paris goal of holding warming to 1.5°C (2.7°F) above pre-industrial levels was still achievable.

"Scientists told me you cannot say that because that's no longer true," he said. The UN is now trying to limit how far past 1.5°C the world goes.

His verdict: "It's not the world that's failed, it's the political leadership that's failed." He said many political systems have no strategic view and change policy too often to sustain long-term investment.

Guterres also called for taxing the windfall profits of fossil fuel companies and directing the money to the countries hit hardest by climate impacts. He cited the recent floods in Nepal, which he said killed more than 1,400 people with thousands still missing.

Washington is out

The United States, the world's second-largest emitter and its historically largest, formally withdrew from the Paris Agreement at the start of 2026, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. It will not send an official delegation to Antalya. Members of Congress and U.S. businesses are still expected to attend.

Türkiye is hosting the conference while Australia leads the negotiations under a joint arrangement between the two countries, according to the World Food Programme. Murat Kurum, Türkiye's environment, urbanization and climate change minister, is COP31 president. A World Leaders Climate Action Summit is scheduled for Nov. 11-12.

What the presidency is pushing

Kurum has said he wants to move from pledges to implementation of existing commitments. He has put together an Action Agenda built around ten themes, including electrification and clean energy, zero waste and methane reduction, and climate-resilient cities.

The presidency has also offered voluntary pledges. One is a "35-by-35" goal to raise electricity's share of total energy consumption from 23 percent today to 35 percent by 2035. Another encourages countries, companies and investors to make artificial intelligence more sustainable.

The Council on Foreign Relations says major concrete outcomes are not expected. The hope is for progress on methane cuts, adaptation, finance and speeding up existing COP agreements.

The temperature numbers

When the Paris deal was negotiated in 2015, the world was on track for 3.7°C to 4.8°C of warming by 2100. Under current policies, projected warming is now around 2.8°C (5.0°F). If the latest national commitments are fully implemented, it falls to around 2.6°C (4.7°F). Global solar capacity in 2025 was more than ten times its 2015 level, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.

That is still far above 1.5°C. August 2026 joined July 2023 as the hottest month on record globally.

El Niño and hunger

The World Food Programme says the current El Niño is expected to peak between October and December 2026 and could become the strongest on record. The agency says droughts, floods, storms and heatwaves were the leading drivers of acute food insecurity for nearly 88 million people across 16 countries in 2025.

The WFP is attending to push for acting early, before climate shocks turn into hunger.

What comes next

Delegates have 12 days to turn the Action Agenda and voluntary pledges into something measurable. Guterres will give his last major climate appeal as secretary-general, with the leaders' summit set for Nov. 11-12. The negotiations will run without an official U.S. delegation.