Australia and Türkiye, neither of which takes climate action seriously, are vying to host the Conference of Parties (COP) for 2026 — an event that does more to emit greenhouse gases than resolving to limit them.
The scale of these gatherings is onerous and costly. The 30th United Nations climate conference being held in Belém, Brazil has 56,118 registered delegates.
The COPs in the United Arab Emirates (2023) and Azerbaijan (2024) drew 100,000 and 70,000 delegates respectively.
Running the COPs is a theatre of utter indulgence: The events end up with a stripped communiqué amid much backslapping among the elect.
That Canberra and Ankara have thrown their hats in the ring to host COP31 demonstrates, despite neither country’s leader turning up in Belém, that they should be disqualified.
An initial idea of a co-chairperson model, between Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, was raised on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting in September. In addition to hosting duties for high-level meetings the countries would also steer negotiations.
Turkey replied with a pitch for multilateralism. Hürriyet Daily News noted the country’s priorities for COP31 included “not a single region but all regions that will be impacted most by the climate changes and to this end special sessions to focus on [the] Pacific would be held”.
Gavan McFadzean of the Australian Conservation Foundation told the BBC: “There was a fair bit of complacency early on in the process”. There had been “an assumption that an Australian/Pacific joint presidential bid would just sail through”.
Chris Bowen, the energy minister who is attending COP30, remains convinced of Australia’s “overwhelming support” among the states for its candidacy. Never mind the substance of the talks; what was important was winning the bid.
As with many matters proclaimed as high principle, politics leaches out.
The Pacific Islands, some of which will disappear in the forthcoming decades, see their chance to promote their cause and entangle their larger neighbour.
The Pacific Islands Forum, for that reason, is barracking for Australia, a country that continues to subsidise and coddle the fossil fuel industry. Such subsidies, The Australia Institute estimated, amounted to $14.9 billion in 2024-2025, an increase of 3% from the previous year’s total of $14.5 billion.
Türkiye, on the other hand, has its own arguments as to why the event should take place at Antalya.
A Reuters report stated Ankara claiming its “candidacy emphasises cooperation and inclusiveness and aims to put greater focus on financing for developing countries while showcasing its progress towards a 2053 net-zero emissions goal”.
Who could argue with such glowing promises? Add duplicity to the list and the country looks even more eligible. Like Australia, Türkiye is a consistent supporter of the fossil fuel industry, largely through its power plants.
The 2025 OECD Economic Survey noted that coal fuels 30% of the country’s total energy supply and over a third of electricity, while a promised emissions trading scheme has not been implemented.
The impracticalities of running such a show should be an impediment. But this fails to blemish the mind of South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas, who has offered up Kaurna Yerta/Adelaide. Much as he does with sporting tournaments, the premier is keen to make more dollars.
As he says in a media release, COP31 “would deliver a quantified potential benefit to South Australia of $511.6 million, including economic activity generated by tourism, trade and investment as well as improvement to the brand of Adelaide and South Australia worldwide”.
Nothing official has been mentioned regarding the cost. When asked about it, Foreign Minister Penny Wong was cool: “I’m not going to comment on the costs of a conference that we haven’t won the bid for yet,” she told ABC’s Insiders on November 16.
Estimates, however, range from between $1 billion and $1.5 billion. Given such figures, the South Australian projection of returns would be eclipsed.
There has been some talk that federal Labor will thin the numbers of those turning up, should Canberra’s bid prove successful. From more than 50,000 delegates, a proposed figure of 30,000 has been suggested, drawing the disapproval of former Australian diplomat David Dutton.
“The host cannot control the size of government delegations,” he wrote in the Lowy Interpreter, “and turning away business and civil society would defeat the purpose”.
If there is no resolution between Ankara and Canberra, Germany has promised to step in.
[Binoy Kampmark currently lectures at RMIT University.]