Australia withdrew its bid to host the annual COP31 event because the required consensus was not reached. According to UN rules, the right to host COP 2026 falls to a group of countries including Western Europe, Australia and others, but consensus must be reached. No country was willing to back down.

Australia's climate minister, Chris Bowen, said the process was based on consensus, and if anyone objected to Australia's offer, the meeting would go to Bonn. Mr Bowen stressed that if this were to happen it would mean „12 months without leadership, without a COP president, without a plan,“ which would be irresponsible towards multilateralism.

Australia thus reached a compromise with Turkey that Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described as an „excellent outcome.“ Under this unusual arrangement, Australia agreed to support Turkey’s candidacy in exchange for an Australian minister chairing the negotiations.

COP31 venue alternatives

Given that the right to host COP 2026 fell to a group of countries, the following options and scenarios were at play:

1. Adelaide, Australia (Original offer): Australia has been pushing hard for the climate summit to be held in Adelaide, arguing that it would be co-hosted with Pacific island nations, which are among the most vulnerable to climate change.
2. Antalya, Turkey (Competitive offer): Turkey proposed hosting COP31 in Antalya. Turkey felt it had a good claim to become the host country because it had backed out in 2021 and allowed the UK to host the meeting in Glasgow.
3. Bonn, Germany (Emergency solution): If neither country is willing to compromise and no consensus is reached, the meeting would be held in the German city of Bonn, which is home to the UN climate organization.

The compromise reached as a result of the discussions at COP30 in Brazil is that the main event will take place in Turkey (Antalya), but its chairman will be Australian Minister Chris Bowen. Part of the agreement is that the COP10 pre-meeting will be held on a Pacific island. JRi