COP31 Opens in Antalya: Guterres Warns the World Has Entered a New Age of Climate Extremes
ANTALYA — The 31st UN Climate Change Conference (COP31) opened on November 9 in Antalya, Türkiye, and runs until November 20. In a statement issued as the conference began, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that the world has entered a new age of climate extremes.
"A supersized El Niño is colliding with a planet already superheated by manmade climate change," Guterres said. He urged leaders to get serious by cutting emissions faster, accelerating a just transition away from fossil fuels and delivering the finance and protection that vulnerable countries need.
His warning coincided with the World Meteorological Organization's State of the Climate Update 2026, released the same day. The WMO reported that the global average surface temperature from January to September 2026 was about 1.47 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, that 2026 is set to rank among the four warmest years on record, and that the past 12 years have been the hottest on record, with ice loss and sea-level rise continuing.
WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo warned that the exceptionally strong El Niño now developing could intensify global heating and extreme weather into 2027, and that countries should prepare for another record-breaking year.
Türkiye holds the COP31 presidency while Australia leads the negotiations, with adaptation, a just transition and climate finance at the core of the agenda. GSM previously reported Guterres calling the conference a moment of truth for climate action in a pre-conference interview.
(Source: Xinhua News Agency)
Source: Xinhua News Agency
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：土耳其安塔利亚老港，COP31在该市举行。Mike Finn 摄，CC BY 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: The old harbour of Antalya, Türkiye, host city of COP31. Photo by Mike Finn, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
