Australia Withdraws Adelaide COP31 Bid in Compromise Deal with Turkey
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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced Australia has withdrawn its bid to host the COP31 climate conference in Adelaide, reaching a compromise with Turkey that secures Australia’s Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen a key negotiation role and guarantees a Pacific Islands pre-summit meeting.
The compromise, revealed by Albanese in Perth during a Western Australia tour, represents a significant shift from Australia’s original ambitions to bring the world’s premier climate gathering to South Australia. Under the agreement, Turkey will formally host COP31 while Bowen assumes the COP presidency for negotiations both leading up to and during the conference in Turkey.
“We’ve come up with an outstanding result,” Albanese told reporters, describing the arrangement as securing three critical priorities for Australia. “Turkey will have the COP presidency, but Chris Bowen in Australia will have the COP presidency for negotiations in the lead up to the conference in Turkey, but also at the conference in Turkey.”
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The Prime Minister emphasized that under COP rules, if no agreement is reached between competing bidders, every country retains veto power. With the choice narrowed to Bonn, Germany or Turkey after Australia’s withdrawal, Albanese said maintaining the multilateral system became paramount.
“We didn’t want the conference to go to Bonn,” Albanese explained, noting that Germany had stepped back from holding the Glasgow conference five years earlier. “Our priority was to support the multilateral system, but also to get a good result for Australia and the Pacific.”
The deal includes a pre-COP meeting to be held in the Pacific at a location to be determined by regional leaders, with world leaders invited to address issues confronting island nations. “The very existence of island states such as Tuvalu and Kiribati, the issue of our oceans, all of those issues will be front and centre,” Albanese said.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers, Member for Rankin in Queensland, defended the outcome in a separate interview, calling it “a very welcome outcome in the circumstances.” Chalmers said the compromise addressed concerns about maintaining momentum toward net zero targets.
“For all of us who want to maintain momentum and progress in the world towards net zero, we couldn’t afford to see this drag out and drag on for another 12 months or so,” Chalmers told Sky News. He identified three key achievements: maintaining an influential voice through Bowen’s negotiation role, ensuring Pacific issues remain central, and preserving progress toward net zero in the multilateral forum.
The decision drew sharp political responses. Opposition Leader Sussan Ley, Member for Farrer in New South Wales, characterized the outcome as a financial reprieve for a government facing budget pressures. “I think Turkey is doing the Australian Government a big favour,” Ley said, noting Australia faces a projected budget deficit of approximately two billion dollars that had been allocated for hosting costs.
“The fact that this government even considered spending two billion dollars of taxpayers’ money on this exercise just goes to show how their priorities are all wrong,” Ley told reporters in Melbourne, where she was visiting a Yarra Valley supermarket with Shadow Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction Dan Tehan, Member for Wannon in Victoria.
Independent MP Zali Steggall, Member for Warringah, expressed disappointment with the decision, saying it was important to host COP in the Southern Hemisphere to highlight climate change’s existential threat to Pacific nations. “I think it would be very important to have a COP here in the Southern Hemisphere to highlight the existential risk that climate change poses for Pacific nations,” Steggall said.
However, Steggall acknowledged the Coalition’s lack of credibility on climate action undermined support for Australian hosting. “The last thing she wants or the coalition wants is a focus in Australia on climate policy and climate action because they have no credibility,” Steggall said, referring to Ley.
Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young for South Australia issued a scathing assessment, calling the decision “an absolute disgrace, lack of leadership and a failure on all levels.” She accused the government of bowing to fossil fuel industry pressure.
“There’s a reason that the fossil fuel industry did not want Australia to host the COP,” Hanson-Young said. “And it’s because they didn’t want that needle to be shifted. They didn’t want the pressure to come on the exports of coal and gas out of Australia.”
When questioned whether Bowen could simultaneously serve as COP president for negotiations and Energy Minister, Albanese expressed confidence. “You bet he can, because action domestically is also about action globally,” the Prime Minister said, dismissing suggestions of split duties under COP rules.
Albanese consulted Pacific leaders including Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape and Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka before finalizing the arrangement. The Prime Minister emphasized that both Australia and Turkey compromised in the interests of climate change action.
Political analyst Stephen Jennings, speaking from Parliament House in Canberra, called Albanese’s assessment “strikingly bullish” given Australia failed to achieve its original goal of hosting in Adelaide. “That said, the Prime Minister seems to believe that the concessions that Australia has won from Turkey as part of this compromise are enough to offset that loss,” Jennings noted.
The budget allocation previously set aside for hosting COP31 in Adelaide will return to consolidated revenue, according to statements from government officials. South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas had strongly advocated for Adelaide as host city, viewing the conference as an economic opportunity for the state.
Climate activists have pushed for Adelaide hosting, arguing it was critical to bring renewable energy industry leaders and COP members to Australia to showcase South Australia’s renewable energy achievements and Pacific climate vulnerabilities.
The compromise preserves Australia’s diplomatic influence on climate negotiations while avoiding the substantial financial commitment of hosting thousands of delegates and international media in Adelaide. The pre-COP Pacific meeting is expected to provide a platform for island nations to elevate their concerns about rising sea levels and extreme weather events directly to world leaders.
Bowen’s dual role as domestic Energy Minister and international climate negotiator positions him to coordinate Australia’s renewable energy transition with global climate action frameworks. The arrangement grants Australia significant leverage in shaping negotiation outcomes without bearing full hosting responsibilities.
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