Wire reporting: (AFP, via CNA), (Reuters, via Al-Monitor)

The 31st U.N. climate conference opened Monday in Antalya, Turkey, at the Antalya Expo Center, with Turkey's environment minister Murat Kurum as COP31 president and Australia's Chris Bowen as president of negotiations^2,6. The session is scheduled through Nov. 20 at the Expo Center^4,2.

UN Climate Change executive secretary Simon Stiell told the opening plenary that progress is not far enough or fair enough and that COP31 should turn existing targets into practical steps^2,3. UN News said more than 90,000 people were expected and that finance, clean energy and a just transition remain central².

Al Jazeera's NewsFeed said the summit opened amid war-driven energy disruption and renewed fossil-fuel reliance, with activists outside calling for an end to greenwashing and a shift away from industrial agriculture¹. Amnesty International, in a statement the same day, asked governments for a fast, fair fossil-fuel phase-out and said restrictions on environmental defenders in the host country threaten voices the talks need to hear⁵.

CNA carried AFP reporting that the opening ceremony began about 90 minutes late after overnight talks on whether climate finance would appear on the official agenda⁸. That account said a climate-finance work programme was included and that a standalone item on tripling adaptation finance was not⁸. IISD's Earth Negotiations Bulletin said parties then adopted the agendas and that a long-term finance contact group launched the same day⁶.

Host officials framed the meeting as an implementation COP. Turkiye Today, carrying Anadolu Agency, said it is Turkey's first time hosting, that 196 countries and the European Union are listed, and that a leaders summit is set for Nov. 11-12⁷. Kurum, in remarks carried by ET Energyworld, said dialogues, trust and resources must grow and the gap between summit promises and people's lives must close⁹.

Turkey is promoting a non-binding target to raise electricity's share of global energy demand to 35 percent by 2035, according to Bowen's remarks as recorded by IISD⁶. Stiell's official transcript said action on methane and electrification could cut about half a degree from projected heating³. Al-Monitor earlier carried a Reuters dispatch from Ikizkoy in which residents asked delegates to inspect lignite mining near Akbelen forest, west of Antalya¹⁰.

What governments will put in a political agreement, whether electrification language will specify low-carbon power, and how far finance talks will go remain open as the two-week session begins^2,6,8.