Nearly 200 countries, including India, will gather in Antalya, Turkey, from November 9 to 20 for COP31, the annual United Nations climate change conference. The summit will focus on turning existing climate commitments into concrete policies and action, as the world remains off track to meet the temperature goals set under the 2015 Paris Agreement.
Turkey will host the conference and lead its presidency, while Australia will preside over the negotiations. The meeting will take place at the Antalya Expo Centre.
Since the first COP summit in 1995, the annual conferences have produced several international climate agreements, including the Paris Agreement. However, translating these commitments into action has proved difficult. Countries remain far from the agreement’s goal of keeping global warming well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, while pursuing efforts to limit the rise to 1.5°C.
Why current climate pledges fall short
The United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Emissions Gap Report 2025 highlights the scale of the challenge. It estimates that annual global greenhouse gas emissions must fall by 35% by 2035 from 2019 levels to align with a pathway limiting warming to 2°C. To stay on the 1.5°C pathway, emissions must decline by 55%.
That would require global emissions to fall by more than half from their 2019 levels in less than a decade. UNEP warns that, given the limited time available and the difficult political environment, the world is very likely to exceed the 1.5°C threshold within the next decade.
Returning to the 1.5°C level by 2100 remains possible, but would require much faster and deeper emissions cuts to limit the extent and duration of the overshoot.
The report also finds that new climate pledges made under the Paris Agreement have only marginally reduced projected global temperature rise this century. It warns that inadequate action could lead to a significant escalation in climate-related risks and damage.
Few countries have submitted 2035 climate targets
The challenge is also reflected in the latest assessment by the Climate Action Tracker (CAT), which tracks government climate commitments and policies.
As of June 2025, only 11 of the 40 countries assessed by CAT had submitted new climate targets for 2035, despite an earlier deadline that year. These countries account for around 85% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Of the 11, only the United Kingdom had proposed a domestic target considered compatible with the 1.5°C pathway, and even that assessment was conditional on increased international climate finance.
Including 11 additional submissions from countries not assessed by CAT, a total of 22 countries had submitted new 2035 targets by June 19, 2025. Together, these countries accounted for just 19% of global emissions in 2022, leaving a large share of worldwide emissions without updated 2035 commitments.
The assessments underline the gap between the emissions reductions required to meet the Paris Agreement goals and the commitments countries have so far put forward. COP31 will take place against this backdrop, with countries under pressure to turn climate pledges into measurable action.
Emissions gap explained: Why current climate pledges are not enough to limit global warming
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