{"id":60158438,"date":"2026-11-05T18:38:24","date_gmt":"2026-11-05T18:38:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/?p=60158438"},"modified":"2026-11-05T18:38:35","modified_gmt":"2026-11-05T18:38:35","slug":"cop31-latin-americas-fragmented-climate-alliances-head-to-antalya","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/cop31-latin-americas-fragmented-climate-alliances-head-to-antalya\/","title":{"rendered":"COP31: Latin America\u2019s fragmented climate alliances head to Antalya"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Latin America is heading to this year\u2019s UN climate summit with less political backing for the agenda it pushed a year ago in Brazil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many Latin American countries showed more unity at November 2025\u2019s COP30, held in the Amazonian city of Bel\u00e9m, than had been the case in previous years. These alliances pushed for further ambition in areas such as the energy transition, deforestation and climate finance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since then, some of the leaders central to pushing forward that agenda have left office, and with them any prospects of a united regional voice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>
Recommended<\/span><\/span><\/div><\/a>\n\n\n\n

Colombia elected a president who pledged to boost oil production and pursue fracking<\/a>, an about-turn from the previous administration\u2019s initiative to move away from fossil fuels. Chile\u2019s new government withdrew over 40 environmental decrees<\/a> within its first months, and has cut funding for its environment ministry and international treaties, including Escaz\u00fa. Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz\u2019s government eliminated<\/a> the country\u2019s environment ministry in August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Escaz\u00fa Agreement<\/p>

Escaz\u00fa entered into force in April 2021, becoming the first regional treaty<\/a> in Latin America and the Caribbean on environmental rights<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Brazil is a notable exception. President Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva\u2019s fourth term, at the expense of another Bolsonaro administration, has re-secured the government that led COP30 \u2013 albeit with fewer regional allies than a year ago. Even Lula, however, has faced criticism for supporting fossil fuel exploration in the Amazon river basin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>
Recommended<\/span><\/span><\/div><\/a>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have a totally different political situation from one year ago,\u201d Andr\u00e9s G\u00f3mez, Latin America director at the Fossil Fuel Treaty Initiative, told Dialogue Earth. \u201cUltra-right governments are interested in the idea of exploiting everything in their territories.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maintaining the Bel\u00e9m momentum<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

COP31 opens in Antalya this Monday, 9 November, with T\u00fcrkiye as host and Australia presiding over negotiations. It will pick up Bel\u00e9m\u2019s unfinished business: two roadmaps, one on moving away from fossil fuels and another on halting deforestation; and a call to increase climate finance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ana Toni, who was COP30\u2019s CEO, is optimistic. \u201cI\u2019m quite confident that the momentum that was created in COP30 will be continued in COP31,\u201d she told Dialogue Earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>
Recommended<\/span><\/span><\/div><\/a>\n\n\n\n

T\u00fcrkiye has billed the summit as a \u201cCOP of implementation<\/a>\u201d, with the focus being on supporting nations in realising their climate plans. In Latin America, the vast majority<\/a> of countries have submitted updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement in the past two years. (NDCs 3.0 were due in 2025.) Argentina, Guatemala and Haiti have not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)<\/span>
\n

Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, countries are required to prepare an outline for their efforts to reduce national emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change. These commitments are referred to as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NDCs are submitted every five years, and successive NDCs are supposed to be more ambitious than previous ones (the so-called \u201cratchet mechanism\u201d). Combined, these national targets should amount to a coordinated global effort to reduce the severity and impact of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taken from<\/em> Dialogue Earth\u2019s climate change glossary<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

As the COP host, T\u00fcrkiye may elect a centrepiece agenda item it wishes to pursue and has chosen electrification. COP31\u2019s president, Murat Kurum, has proposed<\/a> a voluntary global goal to raise the share of final energy demand met by electricity from just over 20% (as of June 2026) to 35% by 2035. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On energy, Latin America sits close to the global average on electrification: electricity meets about 20%<\/a> of its final energy demand. But its grid is much cleaner than most, with 65%<\/a> of electricity from clean sources in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n