COP31: EU lowers hopes for UN climate summit

The European Union is setting low expectations for next month's COP31 climate summit in Turkey, framing the UN meeting as a chance to focus on implementation rather than a major new climate breakthrough.

The summit in Antalya is expected to focus partly on efforts to replace fossil fuels with electricity across the economy. EU environment ministers will formally set the bloc's common position next Monday in Luxembourg.

A European Commission official, speaking anonymously to discuss internal thinking, said it would be counterproductive to arrive with overly high expectations and then be disappointed.

Ireland, which holds the EU's rotating presidency, has circulated a communication strategy for COP31. The document says a focus on a single major breakthrough made sense before previous summits, but that geopolitical changes require a different approach.

The document also says the EU is open to discussing how to deliver existing climate finance commitments, but that there is “no appetite for new financing”.

The lower-key approach follows frustration in Europe after last year's COP in Brazil ended without a mention of phasing out fossil fuels. A UN official told AFP that the EU did not want to take risks this time and was taking a defensive stance.

The wider climate diplomacy environment has become harder for Brussels. US President Donald Trump is withdrawing the United States from the negotiations, while higher energy prices have strengthened major oil and gas producers.

The EU still presents itself as a global climate leader and a major international climate donor. But it has also softened some environmental measures as it tries to improve business competitiveness against China and the United States.

Last month, the European Commission proposed delaying by one year, from 2027 to 2028, a law requiring companies importing hydrocarbons to monitor and report methane emissions linked to their supplies. Environmental organisations and the United Nations saw the delay as a setback.

European climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra said the EU was “staying the course” on climate action and would continue to show leadership at COP. He said clean electrification should be central to the discussion and that implementation of the Paris Agreement should accelerate.

EU countries will also have to decide whether to support a Turkish initiative setting a non-binding target for countries to reach 35 percent of electricity in their energy consumption by 2035.