COP31 U.N. Climate Conference Opens in Antalya, Turkey, After a Year of Extreme Weather

World leaders, delegates and climate activists opened the annual U.N. climate conference, COP31, on Monday, November 9, 2026, in the Mediterranean resort city of Antalya, Turkey, with talks scheduled to run through November 20. Turkey is hosting the summit and Australia is presiding over the negotiations. More than 100,000 people are expected at the Antalya Expo Center, and negotiators from nearly 200 countries face difficult discussions on speeding the energy transition and providing money to help developing nations cope with worsening climate impacts. The opening follows a year of rising temperatures, deadly heat waves in Europe, wildfires in Indonesia and floods in Nepal triggered by a glacier collapse. An exceptionally strong El Nino is forecast to peak later this year. Observers say few major breakthroughs are expected amid an oil price shock and tensions tied to the U.S. war with Iran and Russia's conflict in Ukraine.

Newsmax, on the right, leads with leaders gathering after a disastrous year of extreme weather, citing rising temperatures and deadly European heat waves; its excerpt carries no negotiating detail or named speakers. NPR and CNN, on the left, also open with the Antalya gathering and extreme weather. NPR frames it as a "3 things to know" explainer and stresses that many countries are frustrated by the lack of focus on fossil fuels, the main driver of warming. CNN, in a report by Antoinette Radcliffe, describes climate extremes as off the charts. All agree on the setting and the weather backdrop; the difference is that the left adds fossil-fuel frustration and the scale of extremes. The Hindu adds a distinct angle: financial constraints, geopolitical strain and low expectations for breakthroughs.