What countries are negotiating at COP31, and how it is going
COP31 / CMP21 / CMA8: the negotiating items and where they stand
Eight big questions, explained without jargon. For each one: what is at stake, why it matters to you and how close countries are to a deal.The main agenda items under the COP and the CMA, with their codes, the background from COP30 and the open issues. From 9 November each status links to the document that supports it.
No question starts from zero: each one continues work from COP30 and earlier, and from talks in Bonn in between. The bars fill as this conference moves, from 9 November. Sources: the provisional agendas (FCCC/CP/2026/1, FCCC/PA/CMA/2026/1) and the COP30 outcomes.
How do you want to read this?Plain English. Technical adds agenda codes and official documents.Agenda codes, document names and formal wording, for people who follow the process.
New to this? How a COP negotiation works, in 60 seconds
198
sit at the table: 197 countries and the European Union. Every one of them has a say.
No votes
A decision passes only when no country formally objects. That is why deals are slow and single words matter.
2 weeks
Prepared in Bonn each June. At the COP, diplomats write drafts in week one; ministers settle what is still stuck in week two.
The gavel
Nothing is official until the President bangs the gavel in the closing , often after the scheduled end.
Why it matters: Without this money, many countries cannot pay for flood defences, clean energy or early warning systems.To be decided: Modalities, scope and expected outputs of the two-year work programme on climate finance, including Article 9.1, established at CMA 7.
Where it stands: COP30 set up a two-year on what rich countries owe. Bonn could not agree how to run it, so COP31 has to.
Talks resume on 9 NovemberResumes at COP31, 9 November
Why it matters: Heatwaves, floods and droughts are already here. This decides how progress on protecting people gets measured.To be decided: Follow-up to the Belém Adaptation Indicators adopted at CMA 7, including work under the two-year Belém-Addis Vision on Adaptation.
Where it stands: COP30 agreed 59 voluntary . Bonn could not agree how to use them; COP31 picks up the unfinished text.
Talks resume on 9 NovemberResumes at COP31, 9 November
Why it matters: Coal, oil and gas jobs will change. This is about who gets support when they do.To be decided: Operationalisation of the just transition mechanism that CMA 7 decided to develop: functions, institutional arrangements and workplan.
Where it stands: COP30 agreed a should exist. Bonn produced a list of possible elements; COP31 has to decide what it does and who runs it.
Talks resume on 9 NovemberResumes at COP31, 9 November
Why it matters: It is one of the few places where countries discuss cutting emissions together rather than each on their own.To be decided: Whether to continue the mitigation work programme beyond 2026, and its scope and modalities if continued.
Where it stands: The joint programme was set up to run until 2026. Bonn could not agree whether to keep it; COP31 decides.
Talks resume on 9 NovemberResumes at COP31, 9 November
Why it matters: If the rules are weak, the same tonne of CO2 can be counted twice and nothing really changes for the climate.To be decided: Further guidance on cooperative approaches under Article 6.2, on the Article 6.4 mechanism and on the work programme for non-market approaches under Article 6.8.
Where it stands: The rules are written. COP31 looks at how they work in practice.
Talks resume on 9 NovemberResumes at COP31, 9 November
Why it matters: Some damage can no longer be prevented. A fund exists to help pay for it; this is about how it is run and filled.To be decided: Guidance to the Fund for responding to Loss and Damage and its Board; governance and work of the Warsaw International Mechanism.
Where it stands: The fund exists and has opened its first call. COP31 gives it guidance; the money is far short of the requests.
Talks resume on 9 NovemberResumes at COP31, 9 November
Why it matters: In 2023 countries agreed the world is off track. This checks whether that agreement changed what they actually plan to do.To be decided: Consideration of the report on the annual GST dialogue on how the outcome of the first global stocktake is informing the preparation of NDCs.
Where it stands: Each year countries check whether the 2023 stocktake shapes their plans. The next full stocktake ends in 2028.
Talks resume on 9 NovemberResumes at COP31, 9 November
Why it matters: Today the plans are hard to compare. Clearer rules would make it easier to see who is doing enough.To be decided: Whether to adopt further guidance on features of NDCs, consideration of which has been repeatedly deferred.
Where it stands: Common features for national plans have been postponed for years. The question is back on the agenda.
Talks resume on 9 NovemberResumes at COP31, 9 November
These are the eight questions most likely to make the news. The official agenda has more, mostly technical, items: switch to Technical to see them, each explained in a line.
The rest of the official agenda
Besides the eight questions above, the agendas list many more items. They are there for one of three reasons, marked on each line:
Every year A standing item. The rules put it on every agenda: reports from UN bodies, instructions to the funds, support for poorer countries.
Review due A review the rules schedule for a set year, and this is the year.
Unresolved for years Countries cannot agree, so it comes back, gets postponed, and comes back again.
There are two agendas because there are two treaties: the 1992 Convention, whose members meet as the COP, and the Paris Agreement, whose members meet as the CMA. The number is the item’s place on that agenda, not a year or a past conference; a letter marks a part of that item.
Paris Agreement agenda
Item 8Support for reporting under Article 13Every year Help for developing countries to write the progress reports the Paris Agreement requires.
Item 11, parts a–c and eStanding Committee on Finance, Green Climate Fund, GEF, Adaptation FundEvery year Yearly instructions to the climate funds and to the committee that oversees finance.
Item 12Technology development and transferEvery year How to spread clean technology to the countries that need it.
Item 13Capacity-buildingEvery year Training, skills and institutions in developing countries.
Item 14Matters relating to the least developed countriesEvery year The specific needs of the least developed countries.
Item 15Response measuresEvery year The economic side effects of one country's climate policies on others, for example on oil exporters or from carbon border taxes.
Item 17Implementation and compliance committeeEvery year The committee that checks countries meet their procedural duties under Paris. It cannot punish anyone.
Convention agenda
Item 13Periodic review of the long-term global goalReview due Checks whether the 1.5°C and 2°C goals are still right, and how far the world is from them.
Item 14Gender and climate changeEvery year How gender equality is built into climate action, through the UN's gender action plan.
Item 15Proposals to amend the Convention (Russia on Art. 4.2(f); Papua New Guinea and Mexico on Arts. 7 and 18)Unresolved for years Formal proposals to change the 1992 treaty's text. They come back every year and are usually postponed.
Item 16Second review of the adequacy of Art. 4.2(a) and (b)Unresolved for years Whether rich countries' original 1992 commitments to cut emissions are enough. Deadlocked for decades.
Item 17, part bDecision-making in the UNFCCC processUnresolved for years How the UN climate talks take decisions, including whether anything should ever be put to a vote.
Item 8, part fSeventh review of the Financial MechanismReview due A regular check on how well the climate funds serve the countries that use them.
Full list: provisional agendas FCCC/CP/2026/1 and FCCC/PA/CMA/2026/1 on unfccc.int.