Australia and Turkey at Loggerheads Over 2026 Climate Summit

Attendees during the COP30 climate summit in Belém, Pará state, Brazil, on Nov. 10, 2025. Photo by Alessandro Falco /Photographer: Alessandro Falco/B

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(Bloomberg) — Australia and Turkey are both vying to host the annual United Nations climate summit next year, a contest that on Thursday broke into full view at the current talks in Brazil. 

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Advocates supporting Australia’s bid mounted a news conference to make their case outside the country’s pavilion at COP30 — in an awkward twist, just steps away from Turkey’s location. As workers in the Turkish pavilion began handing out coffee and tea to delegates Thursday morning, First Nations Australians performed a cultural dance. 

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Australia has a unique opportunity “to be a decarbonizing force for the whole region and indeed the world,” said Rebecca Mikula-Wright, chief executive officer of the Investor Group on Climate Change, a network of institutional investors in Australia and New Zealand. 

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At issue is which country will lead high-level international climate negotiations in 2026 and stage a conference that typically summons tens of thousands of delegates from around the world as well as significant green investment. Host countries also secure a rare opportunity to showcase their climate policies, economies and culture to the world while luring tourist dollars and trade. 

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Neither Turkey nor Australia is so far willing to concede, and nations tasked with working out the dispute haven’t come to a decision in a process that requires consensus. Possible outcomes could see the conference land in Adelaide, Australia, or Antalya, Turkey. 

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If no decision is reached by the end of the ongoing COP30 summit, Germany would host by default, as it is the host of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change secretariat. 

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Australia Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Thursday he’d received a letter from Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan within the past 24 hours “maintaining his position in response to Australia maintaining our position.” Bilateral negotiations are expected to continue next week after ministers arrive in Belem. 

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Supporters of holding the conference in Australia say it would keep the spotlight on Indigenous peoples while highlighting the Asia-Pacific region and island states bearing the brunt of climate change. 

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It would also demonstrate the region is a stable, secure and dynamic place to invest in the energy transition, said Paul Hunyor, CEO of Wollemi Capital, an investment firm focused on the energy transition and emerging infrastructure. “Australia has the fourth-largest pool of asset-fund pension capital in the world,” Hunyor said. “What you will see highlighted is that it is mobilizing at pace to finance turning Australia into a renewable energy superpower.” 

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