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.
This is unusual and it has had almost no coverage. Official side events are a fixture of every COP: they are the sessions inside the formal programme, selected by the secretariat, and they are how most observer organisations get a platform. The secretariat is now saying openly that whether they run at all depends on funding.
If you applied in July, you have not necessarily been rejected, and no selection notification date has been published. If you did not apply, the waiting list is still open through the online system.
For most organisations the practical consequence is that pavilions matter more this year, not less. A pavilion host controls its own programme and does not depend on the secretariat’s budget.