The United Nations' COP31 climate summit opened Monday in Antalya, Turkey, kicking off eleven days of negotiations that mark the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement's entry into force — a milestone overshadowed by the continued absence of the United States from the talks.

Turkey is hosting the conference, which runs through Nov. 20, under COP31 President Murat Kurum, while Australia chairs the actual negotiations as part of a compromise reached last year to resolve a dispute over which country would host, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.

Washington formally withdrew from the Paris Agreement at the start of 2026 and is not sending an official government delegation — a repeat of its absence from last year's COP30 in Belém, Brazil, the first time since the 1990s the US had skipped a UN climate conference entirely. A 19-member US congressional delegation is attending anyway, according to Hürriyet Daily News, alongside American businesses and subnational officials attending independently of the federal government.

What's on the table

Kurum has said he wants COP31 to shift focus from new pledges to implementing commitments countries have already made, framing the summit's goal as "moving beyond climate pledges to the concrete implementation of existing commitments." A new "Action Agenda" organizes talks around ten themes, including clean energy, methane reduction and climate-resilient cities, alongside voluntary pledges like a "35-by-35" push to raise electricity's share of global energy use from 23% to 35% by 2035.

Climate finance is expected to be the most contentious issue on the floor, as developing nations press wealthier countries to deliver on a pledged $300 billion a year by 2035 and to triple funding for climate adaptation. Negotiators are also expected to revisit a fossil-fuel transition roadmap that was left out of last year's COP30 agreement, along with unresolved questions over methane cuts and the mechanics of a "just transition" fund.

"LONG ON DIALOGUE AND COMMITMENT AND SHORT ON CONCRETE ACTION"

The backdrop is sobering: current national policies put the planet on track for roughly 2.8 degrees Celsius of warming, or about 2.6 degrees even if every existing pledge is fully implemented — far above the 1.5-degree target the Paris Agreement was designed to protect, a goal most scientists now consider out of reach.

UN climate chief Simon Stiell has repeatedly said the "door remains open" for the US to rejoin the process. For now, though, COP31 proceeds as the second consecutive major climate summit held without an American seat at the table — a vacancy allies and rivals alike are expected to keep filling as talks stretch toward their Nov. 20 close.