#WhatTheCOP

Questions about COP31, answered in one line

27 of them. Every answer starts with the answer. The detail comes after, and the source is at the bottom of each page.

COP31 in Antalya

When is COP31 and where is it being held?COP31 runs from 9 to 20 November 2026 at the Antalya EXPO Center in Antalya, Türkiye.What happens on each day of COP31?The COP31 presidency has published a theme for each of the twelve days, running from Food, Agriculture and Health on 9 November to Final Negotiations on 20 November.Why does COP31 have a Zero Waste theme?Zero Waste is one of the COP31 presidency priorities and has its own day on 11 November, reflecting Türkiye’s national Zero Waste programme and the profile of the Climate High-Level Champion for this COP.Who is the president of COP31, and why is Australia involved?Türkiye holds the presidency and its environment minister, Murat Kurum, is the COP31 President. Australia’s climate minister, Chris Bowen, holds a separate title, President of Negotiations, and runs the negotiating process.What is a Climate High-Level Champion, and who is it for COP31?The Champion is the person appointed by the host country to mobilise everyone who is not a government: companies, investors, cities, regions and civil society. For COP31 it is Samed Ağırbaş, chairman of Türkiye’s Zero Waste Foundation.How many people actually attend a COP?COP30 in Belém registered 42,618 people on site and another 2,550 attending virtually, 45,168 in total.What is Pre-COP, and when is it for COP31?Pre-COP is an informal ministerial meeting a few weeks before the conference, where a smaller group of ministers works through the hardest issues in advance. For COP31 it runs from 5 to 8 October 2026, hosted by Fiji, Tuvalu and Australia.

Getting in

What is the Blue Zone at a COP, and how is it different from the Green Zone?The Blue Zone is the UN-managed venue where negotiations happen and you need accreditation to enter. The Green Zone is run by the host government and is open to the public.How do I get accreditation for COP31?There are four routes into the Blue Zone: a government delegation, an admitted observer organisation, media accreditation, or the UN system itself. There is no way to buy a badge.Can I go to COP31 if I do not work for a government or an NGO?Yes, but only to the Green Zone. It is run by the Turkish government, it is open to the public and it needs no badge. The Blue Zone, where the negotiations and the pavilions are, is closed to anyone without UN accreditation.What is in the Green Zone at COP31?The COP31 presidency has named four things: a startup zone, COP-ART, COP ENTERTAINMENT and COP-SCIENCE. All of it is open to the public.How does an organisation become a UN climate observer?It applies through the UNFCCC admission system and waits. The secretariat states plainly that at current resource levels the assessment can take six to seven years from application to an answer.

Pavilions and sessions

What is a pavilion at a COP?A pavilion is a space inside the Blue Zone that an organisation leases and programmes itself, running its own sessions for the full two weeks, separate from the official negotiations.Which pavilions are confirmed for COP31 in Antalya?We are tracking 42 pavilions for COP31, most of them in the Blue Zone, and one announced pavilion has already been cancelled.How do I get a speaking slot at COP31?Most pavilions run an open call for session proposals in the months before the COP. Find the pavilion whose theme matches your work, find its host, and apply to that call.How much does it cost to have a pavilion at COP31?No price has been published. The UNFCCC says only that pavilion and delegation office space is available on a commercial basis and is managed by the Turkish government, which handles the terms directly with each host.When will pavilion programmes for COP31 be published?No pavilion has published its COP31 programme yet, as of 28 September 2026. Most have closed their calls for sessions and are selecting. Programmes have historically appeared in the two or three weeks before the conference, and sometimes during it.Will there be official UN side events at COP31?Not confirmed. The application window ran from 15 to 20 July 2026 and closed, but the UNFCCC secretariat has said it is still working to secure enough resources to run side events and exhibits at COP31, and is keeping applications open on a waiting list until it knows.What is the difference between a side event and a pavilion event?A side event is part of the official conference programme and is selected by the UNFCCC secretariat. A pavilion event is put on by whoever leased that pavilion, on their own terms. The UNFCCC is explicit that pavilion events are not part of the official programme.

How the process works

What does COP actually stand for?Conference of the Parties. The Parties are the 198 countries that have ratified the 1992 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and the COP is that treaty’s decision-making body. COP31 is the thirty-first annual meeting.What is the difference between the COP, the CMA and the CMP?They are three separate meetings for three separate treaties, held in the same building at the same time. The COP serves the 1992 Convention, the CMP serves the Kyoto Protocol and the CMA serves the Paris Agreement. At Antalya they are COP 31, CMP 21 and CMA 8.What are SBSTA and SBI?The two permanent working bodies that do the technical groundwork between and during COPs. SBSTA handles scientific and technological advice; SBI handles whether the agreements are actually being implemented. They meet twice a year, in Bonn around June and again at the conference.What is a cover decision?The overarching political text adopted at the end of a conference, sitting above the individual technical decisions. It is where a presidency puts the headline message, and it is usually where the hardest fight of the fortnight happens.

What gets decided

What is the Global Stocktake, and why does COP31 matter for it?It is the five-yearly assessment of whether the world is collectively on track against the Paris Agreement. The first one concluded at COP28 in Dubai in 2023. The second one begins at Antalya and concludes in 2028.What is an NDC?A Nationally Determined Contribution, which is a country’s own climate plan under the Paris Agreement: what it will cut, by when, and what it will do to adapt. Every country writes its own and submits a new one every five years.What is Article 6 of the Paris Agreement?The part that lets countries cooperate on cutting emissions, including by trading them. One country pays for a reduction in another and counts it toward its own target. It took nine years to agree the rules.What is the Loss and Damage Fund?Formally the Fund for responding to Loss and Damage. It pays for harm from climate change that has already happened and cannot be adapted to. It was agreed at COP27 in 2022 and made operational at COP28 in 2023.