Delegations from close to 190 countries are gathering in Turkey for the COP31 climate summit, which opens on Monday with the world's climate targets under growing strain. Scores of world leaders are expected to attend, and the talks are being described as high-stakes at a moment when global warming is pushing past limits that scientists have long warned about.
The host government has said the meeting must deliver tangible results rather than another round of general pledges. Turkish officials argue that success will only be judged by progress that people can clearly see in their everyday lives, such as cuts in emissions and steps that help vulnerable communities adapt to a hotter planet.
The pressure comes from an unusually powerful El Niño, the recurring warming of Pacific Ocean waters that shapes weather around the globe. This episode has been recorded as the strongest on record, and it has been worsened by the continued burning of fossil fuels. Projections tied to the event point to hundreds of thousands of deaths, along with damages that could run into the trillions of dollars.
Those figures are what give the Turkey summit its urgency. Negotiators will face the difficult task of turning mounting evidence of climate harm into commitments that governments are willing to carry out. How much the meeting will ultimately deliver remains unclear, but the stakes for both wealthy and developing nations are widely seen as unusually high.