Adelaide will not hold next year’s UN climate summit, with Climate Minister Chris Bowen revealing Australia was willing to cede hosting rights to Türkiye in exchange for it handing him the reins of the negotiations and cementing a major role for the Pacific at the summit.
There had been a growing expectation that Australia would drop its bid to host COP31 in Adelaide as it struggled to convince Türkiye to pull out of the contest.
Under UN rules, if the two countries were unable to strike a deal, then the meeting location would automatically revert to Germany, which hosts the United Nations body responsible for the Paris Agreement.
Mr Bowen told reporters in Belem that while negotiations were ongoing, both countries were willing to make “significant concessions” to strike a deal.
“Significant concession is what’s required when you are trying to find consensus,” he said.
“Obviously, it would be great if Australia could have it all. But we can’t have it all. This process works on consensus.”
The decision is likely to bitterly disappoint climate advocates who have championed Adelaide’s bid, saying it would supercharge Australia’s renewable energy industry and leverage the Pacific’s moral authority to drive more ambition on global climate action.
But Mr Bowen said both countries had to reach an agreement in order to avoid “12 months with a lack of leadership, no COP president in place, no plan”.
“I know some people [will] be disappointed in that outcome,” he said.
“Other people, of course, would be even more disappointed if it had gone to Bonn [in Germany] without a COP president in place. This is a better outcome than that.”
Mr Bowen also confirmed that Australia was looking to ensure a “pre-COP” leaders meeting would be held in the Pacific under the deal, as well as a major fundraising round for the Pacific Resilience Facility.
Australia has been canvassing these options with Pacific leaders over the past 48 hours as diplomats have scrambled to land a deal.
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