Amnesty warns COP31 leaders to break fossil fuels' grip as summit opens

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Amnesty International has told world leaders heading to COP31 that they must stop backing the fossil fuel industry and deliver a rapid, fair and funded phase-out, warning that the world is running out of excuses rather than warnings. The statement landed on Sunday, a day before the climate summit opens in Antalya, Türkiye.

The organisation singled out the summit's two leaders. Türkiye hosts COP31 and Australia holds the negotiations presidency, yet both remain deeply tied to fossil fuels: Australia is one of the world's largest exporters of coal and liquefied natural gas, while Türkiye is heavily dependent on coal and plans to expand fossil gas production. Amnesty wants the summit to set up a strong Belém-Antalya Mechanism for a just transition, carry through the Gender Action Plan, put loss and damage on the agenda as its own item, and scale up climate finance for lower-income countries. It cited the UN Environment Programme's latest assessment, which warns the world is on course to overshoot 1.5°C, and pointed to the International Court of Justice's clarification that states have obligations under international law to prevent significant climate harm.

COP31 runs from 9 to 20 November, the first time the UN climate presidency has been split between two countries, with Türkiye's environment minister Murat Kurum running the action agenda and Australia's climate minister Chris Bowen running the negotiations. Amnesty's delegation will be in Antalya for the full summit and holds a press conference on 10 November. The warning follows a letter from more than 500 Australian academics, reported earlier in the week, urging Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to stop new coal and gas projects before the summit.

The statement itself is the primary source here, published on Amnesty's own site on 8 November, and its Australia-specific warning is corroborated by a separate Amnesty International Australia statement issued the same day. Two points need care. The UNEP overshoot warning and the court's position are cited by Amnesty rather than independently re-verified in this piece, and the 1.5°C framing is Amnesty's reading of the UNEP assessment. And nothing is settled yet: the summit had not opened when the statement was issued, so whether negotiators adopt any of the measures Amnesty lists remains to be seen.

The test Amnesty sets is a plain one. COP31 opens on Monday 9 November and runs to 20 November, and a summit led by two fossil-fuel producers will be judged on whether it produces a phase-out plan or another round of pledges. Amnesty's press conference on 10 November, at noon in the Blue Zone, is the first chance to see how that argument lands inside the negotiations.