Ryan Bachoo
Lead Editor – Newsgathering
Day 2 of the UN Climate Change Conference is underway in Antalya, Türkiye (for those who could get there). Delegates have been left frustrated with some stuck in traffic for as many as three hours (and counting). Anyway, here are the five things you should know as the conference enters day two:
1) Both the UN and Turkish flags are being flown at half-mast to commemorate the death of Türkiye’s founding father, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.
2) Today will be pivotal as negotiators set the stage for world leaders who are set to arrive tomorrow.
3) Rising oil and gas prices attributed to the war in Iran have encouraged people to look beyond fossil fuels, leading to an easing of climate-damaging carbon emissions this year, according to research from the Earth System Science Data.
4) Minor protests have gripped COP31 this morning with activists from Climate Action Network, APMDD, 350, and Oil Change International calling for global move towards renewables.
5) On the back of hosting COP31, Türkiye’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan celebrated the “encouraging” discovery of two new oilfields in the Gabar mountains last night on X.
Guardian Media’s Ryan Bachoo and Seigonie Mohammed are on the ground in Antalya, Türkiye for COP31.
