UN Climate Conference Opens in Turkey; Guterres Urges Stronger Action

The 31st UN Climate Conference (COP31) has opened in Antalya, Turkey, with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urging nearly 200 countries to intensify action against global warming. Over two weeks, delegates will discuss measures to combat climate change, which has been marked this year by severe wildfires, heatwaves, and floods. COP President Murat Kurum leads the talks, with Germany's delegation headed by Environment Minister Carsten Schneider. The conference comes ten years after the Paris Agreement, yet UN projections show current policies would lead to 2.8 degrees Celsius warming, exceeding the 1.5-degree target. Turkey proposed raising electricity's share of final energy consumption from 20 to 35 percent by 2035, a plan Germany supports.