It’s that time of year again, so it’s time for Cliscep to have a thread for COP31 articles. To get the ball rolling, below are a few early efforts from the Guardian.

The green light for the largest coalmine in NSW history is shocking proof that our governance systems are betraying Australians

At the start of the month the Guardian took aim at COP31 chair, Australia.

There is no greater treachery than this failure to face up to the climate crisis. How can we now fend off despair?

‘We want action’: Fijian climate activist sends message ahead of UN talks in Pacific

This article is three days old, and the holding of the pre-COP meeting at Fiji offers the Guardian the opportunity to trot out the old trope about rising sea levels and “climate justice” calling for compensation to be paid to Pacific Islanders, because “[t]he Pacific Islands are disproportionately affected by the climate crisis, despite accounting for just 0.02% of global emissions”.

The article also draws attention to the strange arrangements surrounding COP31. Perhaps the other COPs were too boring, too unsuccessful, so it was time to try something different. Whatever:

Turkey and Australia agreed last year that the Pacific would host preparatory meetings before Cop31 under a compromise deal to resolve a standoff about where the 2026 summit would be held. The summit will be hosted in Turkey’s Mediterranean resort city of Antalya in November, while Australia will chair negotiations.

Revealed: the methane mega-leaks from UN climate summit host Turkey

Yesterday’s offering from the Guardian takes aim at the host nation, Turkey: “Cop31 leader calling for global curbs on climate-heating gas has landfills producing some of world’s worst plumes”. It’s all very awkward, a bit like when Brazil hosted the COP at the same time as deciding it wanted to become one of the planet’s major oil producers.

The revelation that Turkey has some of the world’s worst landfill methane leaks comes at an awkward time: in November, the country will host the next UN global climate summit, Cop31, and has put cutting methane emissions at the top of the action agenda it wants all nations to agree on.

Mixed start for pre-Cop as just two non-Pacific leaders accept Australian invitation to climate summit

Perhaps this piece from yesterday is getting us ready for the likelihood that COP31 will be another talking shop that doesn’t move the dial. If expectations are lowered in advance, then perhaps the lack of any meaningful outcome won’t be so disappointing, and we can all move on to COP32 next year without being too downbeat.

I suppose pre-COPs are necessary to put the framework in place in advance of the COPs themselves, but one does wonder what 4,000 people can achieve in Fiji. Surely an agenda-setting meeting should involve a handful of highly focussed individuals? Instead, we are told:

Anthony Albanese joins about 4,000 people in Fiji for preparatory meeting for year-ending Cop31 UN climate summit….

…The Australian government invited national leaders to visit the low-lying atoll nation of Tuvalu, but distance, geopolitical ruptures and the expectation that leaders would prioritise a trip to the Turkish Mediterranean resort city of Antalya for more significant climate talks in a matter of weeks made that a difficult sell.

After declining to comment for days, the Australian government acknowledged on Monday that only 14 national leaders would make the trip to Tuvalu on Tuesday, and just two of those – Timor-Leste’s José Ramos-Horta and Mauritius’ Dharam Gokhool – have travelled from beyond the Pacific….

Oh well, at least the leaders’ carbon footprints are being kept under control at this stage. That’s just as well, since apparently Türkiye is to host over 100,000 people at its largest-ever climate conference.

What will happen there? Well, in a triumph of hope over expectation, “Samed Agirbas, who is…COP31’s High-Level Climate Champion, said Türkiye wants the conference to produce action rather than new pledges.”

Why is that a triumph of hope over expectation? Well, he also (very perceptively) also said this:

…more than 80 decisions have been taken at past COP meetings, “but most of them have no counterpart on the ground, and no way of being implemented.”

My money is on more of the same this time round, but we’ll see. Please feel free to draw attention to COP31 stories below the line – that’s what this article is for.