COP31: Climate Minister Chris Bowen says Australia is ‘in it to win it’ on hosting rights for UN summit

At global climate talks in Brazil, Chris Bowen is staring down rivals Turkey and vowing to succeed with Australia’s bid to host the 2026 COP31 conference in Adelaide.

The Climate Minister arrived in the host city of Belem on Monday, giving Australia’s national address and backing a Pacific decarbonisation plan.

For most nations at the 2025 COP, held in the Amazon rainforest gateway city, the main game is making progress towards the Paris Agreement - the global pact that aims to limit global warming to 1.5C.

Australia’s presence, meanwhile, is centred on landing the rights to the 2026 conference, which it hopes to host in tandem with the Pacific.

Hosting decisions are made by consensus, meaning Australia needs to convince Turkey to drop its bid to avoid the diplomatic disaster of missing out.

Turkey has shown no hint that it might walk away, creating an impasse.

Despite the deadlock, Mr Bowen is keeping the faith, telling COP attendees he would land the bid.

“We are in it, and we are in it to win it, let me make it clear,” he said.

“We’re not going anywhere and South Australia’s not going anywhere.”

Mr Bowen’s comments came at an Australian pavilion-hosted side event championing South Australia’s renewable bona fides.

The Minister also gave a formal address to the plenary spruiking Australia’s climate credentials, including a 2035 emissions target of 62-70 per cent below 2005 levels.

He also continued the pitch for hosting rights, saying Australia wanted “to bring the world to our region to see the impacts of climate change and bring the world’s best innovators and businesses to invest in solutions”.

“In hosting COP31 we want to offer hope through our steadfast commitment to collective action, bringing continuing continuity and stability from the Amazon, the lungs of the earth, to our blue Pacific continent.”

Pacific leaders have unanimously endorsed the Australian bid through Pacific Islands Forum leaders communiques issued in recent years.

Vanuatu Climate Minister Ralph Regenvanu said Pacific nations were all pulling for hosting rights but he “didn’t have any sense” of the outcome.

“Minister Bowen talked about it and he seemed to not know what was going to happen, but saying that Australia would continue to the end fighting for it,” he told AAP.

“Pacific small island developing states are meeting delegations about it.”

Australia also appears to have the support of many developed nations.

A briefing note seen by AAP suggests Australia has the explicit backing of 24 of the 28 “Western European and Others Group” nations, while Turkey has no publicly declared supporters.

While questions are being asked of whether the large cost of hosting the event is desirable for Australia, climate advocacy groups are desperate for the government to pull it off.

“This is a once in a generation chance, and will be a missed opportunity if they don’t win the COP presidency,” Australian Conservation Foundation climate manager Gavan McFadzean told AAP.

“Our Pacific neighbours have contributed the least to climate crisis but are amongst the worst affected, and there’s an enormous economic and jobs opportunity to ... transition our coal and gas exports to renewable energy based manufacturing.”

Mr Bowen also supported a Vanuatu and Tuvalu-championed report into Pacific decarbonisation, also endorsed by Australia’s Smart Energy Council, just released at the COP talks.

Many nations are plagued by unreliable or expensive power sources, such as imported diesel, and are seeking to transition away.

“If we can manage the rapid transition of our energy systems in Pacific Islands, it can be a beacon for the rest of the globe,” Mr Regenvanu said.

“Our survival depends on it.”