Deep Observation | From Climate Ambition to Fulfillment of Commitments How does COP31 solve implementation problems?

On November 9, local time, the 31st Conference of the Parties (COP31) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change will open in Antalya, Türkiye. The conference will last until November 20, and representatives from more than 190 parties will conduct consultations on issues such as energy transition, climate financing, and greenhouse gas emission reduction.

This conference is being held at a time when wars, energy crises and economic pressures are intertwined, extreme weather disasters occur frequently around the world, and the situation of dealing with climate change has become increasingly urgent. Faced with many challenges, COP31 will focus on "implementation" and strive to promote countries to translate the climate commitments they have made into practical actions.

Compared with previous editions, what are the new measures at COP31? In the face of practical difficulties, what substantive progress can be made in global climate action?

01

The two presiding countries divide labor to promote implementation

New goals for global electrification

This year's COP31 adopts the "double-chairmanship" model, with Türkiye and Australia jointly carrying out the work. Türkiye serves as the chair of the General Assembly and is responsible for promoting the climate action agenda; Australia serves as the negotiating chair and presides over formal negotiations between countries.

The British "Guardian" pointed out that Australia will focus on promoting negotiations on climate financing, just transition and the implementation of emission reduction commitments, while Turkey will focus on promoting specific actions in areas such as clean energy, food security and circular economy.

Among them, the “35 by 35” global electrification initiative has attracted much attention.

Turkey proposes to increase the proportion of electricity in global final energy consumption from slightly more than 20% to 35% by 2035, promote greater use of electricity in transportation, industry, heating and other fields, and reduce dependence on fossil fuels.

Electrification not only helps reduce carbon emissions but also increases energy efficiency. The Guardian quoted an estimate by Jan Rozenau, a professor at the University of Oxford in the UK, who pointed out that if electrification technology is widely adopted around the world, the total amount of energy consumed to meet the same demand is expected to be reduced by about half.

However, while expanding the use of electricity, we also need to ensure that the source of electricity is cleaner. Bloomberg pointed out that some countries hope to further clarify that electrification goals should be achieved mainly through zero-emission electricity.

Whether countries can reach broad consensus on this initiative will be an important aspect of this conference.

02

Clean energy development accelerates

How to benefit more countries?

In recent years, the rapid development of global clean energy technology has created favorable conditions for accelerating energy transformation.

The United Nations News website reported that in 2025, the world's newly installed solar power generation capacity will exceed 600 gigawatts, and the installed battery energy storage capacity will reach 11 times that in 2021. Electric vehicles have accounted for a quarter of global new car sales.

The Guardian pointed out that clean energy is changing the energy structure of more and more countries. The African solar market has begun to accelerate, and in Pakistan there is a rooftop photovoltaic boom driven by ordinary consumers. Solar power generation is equivalent to about a quarter of the country's electricity consumption. In Vietnam and some EU member states, electric vehicles account for nearly half of new car sales.

Selwyn Hart, Special Advisor to the United Nations Secretary-General on Climate Action and Just Transition, said that despite the severe situation of global warming, the world has never had such sufficient technical conditions to deal with climate challenges as it does today.

However, technological progress does not mean that all countries will benefit from the energy transition.

United Nations data shows that in 2025, emerging markets and developing economies other than China will account for nearly two-thirds of the world's population, but will only receive 18% of global clean energy investment. About 600 million people in Africa still lack access to electricity.

Hart pointed out that high financing costs are an important obstacle to the energy transition in developing countries. Even if the same technology is used, the financing cost of constructing renewable energy projects in some developing countries may be several times that of developed countries.

Funding shortages also affect developing countries’ ability to respond to climate disasters. The United Nations Environment Program estimates that by 2035, developing countries will need approximately US$305 billion in annual climate adaptation funds, while international public climate adaptation funds flowing to these countries in 2024 will only be US$28.2 billion to US$31.7 billion.

How to reduce financing costs, narrow the funding gap, and allow clean energy technologies to benefit more countries will be an important part of COP31's efforts to promote the implementation of climate commitments.

03

How can climate commitments be truly implemented?

The Financial Times pointed out that since the 2015 Paris Agreement was reached, the international community has been negotiating for more than ten years on global emission reduction targets and agreement implementation rules. Today, global climate governance has entered a new stage that pays more attention to practical actions. The focus of this year's COP31 is to push countries to fulfill their existing commitments and transform climate consensus into concrete results.

In addition to global electrification, this conference will also focus on the implementation path away from fossil fuels, the fulfillment of climate finance commitments, and how to help workers and communities in the traditional energy industry achieve a just transition.

So how do you measure whether these promises are actually being implemented?

Bloomberg pointed out that this conference will further discuss how to use previously agreed indicators to measure the progress of countries in adapting to climate change, and promote the improvement of a fair transition mechanism to help workers and communities affected by the energy transition. At the same time, countries will also prepare for the next round of global climate action inventory in 2028 to assess the actual results of emission reductions and other climate actions.

Chris Bowen, Australia’s Minister of Climate Change and Energy and Chairman of the COP31 Negotiations, emphasized in an interview with the Guardian that this conference must make real progress and produce practical results that the public can see and feel.

Although the international situation is complex and global climate governance faces many difficulties, the rapid progress of clean energy technology has also provided new conditions for accelerated action. How to translate existing commitments into specific policies, financial support and actual emission reduction results will be an important task of this conference.

Source | Headquarters Global Information

Written by | Li Xiuli

Signing and Review | Jia Yanning

Producer | Cai Yaoyuan