Oil Change International COP31 Media Advisory – November 13, 2026

Antalya, Türkiye- With a new draft cover decision expected today at COP31, governments face growing pressure to deliver a credible response to the climate crisis. On Finance and Trade Day, a flurry of announcements is expected, but these cannot distract from the bigger picture: wealthy countries are cutting climate finance and failing to deliver the public funding they owe to the Global South. As negotiations intensify, Europe’s climate leadership is conspicuously absent. Leaders of major EU economies skipped the Leaders’ Summit, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen failed to mention fossil fuels in her address, the EU’s climate finance is flatlining and many EU countries have yet to put forward new climate finance pledges.

Laurie van der Burg, Global Public Finance Lead at Oil Change International, said:

“COP31 cannot become another summit where governments acknowledge the climate emergency and then refuse to confront its biggest cause, fossil fuels. A credible outcome must deliver real progress on ending fossil fuel expansion, phasing out production, and providing the public finance needed for a just transition.

“On Finance Day, we expect plenty of announcements, but declarations based on unrealistic private finance mobilization promises are no substitute for wealthy countries actually delivering the public finance they owe. Climate finance is being cut, and many countries are failing to come forward with new pledges. We cannot let a flurry of announcements distract from that reality.

“Meanwhile, Europe’s climate leadership is nowhere to be found. At the Leader’s Summit von der Leyen failed to name fossil fuels, while the EU’s biggest country leaders didn’t show up at all. The EU’s climate finance is flatlining and many Member States have yet to put forward new climate finance pledges. 

“The EU says it wants to build trusted partnerships to reduce its dependence on the United States, but trust isn’t built through talk alone. It’s built by delivering on commitments to phase out fossil fuels and providing the public finance needed for a just transition. By ending fossil fuel subsidies, making polluters pay and supporting changes to unfair financial rules the EU can unlock the public money needed to meet the needs of its own citizens and deliver the finance owed to the Global South.”

Press Conferences:

• 10:30 European Union Press Conference Mevlana Conference Room | Online | Response forthcoming 
• 11:00 Press Conference: Kick Big Polluters Out | Press Room Yunus Emre, Area D4 | Online | Press Release
  • Members of Kick Big Polluters Out will gather to expose and denounce the egregious Big Polluters roaming the halls of COP31. 
• 11:30 Press Conference: Climate Action Network | Press Room Yunus Emre, Area D4 | Online

Events: 

• 10:30 Action: Pay Up for Climate Finance | Action Location 2, middle of long outdoor hallway / Peaceway, Blue Zone
• 11: 30 Side Event: Countering corporate power and making polluters pay for a fair, fast & full fossil fuel phaseout | Side Event Room 2 – Dalyan, Area B1, Blue Zone
• 12:00 Action: Action: Palestine Solidarity & Demilitarisation | Action Location 1A, main plaza just past main entrance, Blue Zone
• 14:15 Action: Kick Big Polluters Out | Action Location 1B, main plaza near exit, Blue Zone
• 16:00 Action: Youth Demand a 5F Fossil Fuel Phaseout | Action Location 1A, main plaza just past main entrance, Blue Zone
• 17:00 Action: Japan Stop Funding Fossils | Action Location 1B, main plaza near exit, Blue Zone

Hikmat Soeriatanuwijaya, Senior Partnership and Outreach Officer, Oil Change International, said: “While the world’s governments gather in Antalya to work out how to move away from fossil fuels, Japan is back home brokering more oil and gas deals through AZEC. Southeast Asia is already facing climate disasters, rising energy costs, and loss of the coasts and ecosystems we depend on. Japan is making every one of these crises worse. It locks our region into LNG, ammonia co-firing and CCS for decades, while our communities carry the cost. Japan must end its financing for fossil fuels and support a just, renewable transition.”

• 18:00 Fossil of the Day Action |  Location 1B, main plaza near exit, Blue Zone
• 18:30 Side Event: Side Event: Equity in the transition away from fossil fuels: Perspectives from Global South and North | Side Event Room 2 – Dalyan, Area B1, Blue Zone

Tomorrow

14:00 | PEOPLE’S CLIMATE MARCH TO BRING GLOBAL CALL FOR CLIMATE JUSTICE TO THE STREETS OF ANTALYA | Location: Aydin Kanza Park Antalya, Türkiye March start time: 14:00

In case you missed it: 

• U.S. Bipartisan Affordability and Jobs Act (BAAJA): As Senator Whitehouse arrives at COP Oil Change International reaffirms opposition to the Trump-backed Bipartisan Affordability and Jobs Act (BAAJA) and calls on the Senate to reject the bill. Read our statement about why BAAJA will fast-tracks fossil fuel projects and makes it virtually impossible for communities to stop them and our statement in response to Senator Whitehouse at COP31. 
• Electrification: Read our quick explainer about why the electrification target needs strong renewable energy and fossil fuel phaseout guardrails to deliver on its promise. Electrification is essential to the energy transition, but it must not open the door to more fossil gas. As COP31 negotiators consider a global electrification target, IEA scenarios show that electrification under current energy policies falls far short of the emissions cuts needed to limit warming to 1.5°C and could cause rising gas demand for power.

Spokespeople and areas of focus

At COP31, reach out to us to connect with spokespeople to cover: 

• Experts will analyze and respond to the latest cover decision draft.
• Fair Fossil fuel phaseout: Fossil fuel phaseout roadmaps, Global North countries’ fossil fuel expansion, Nationally Determined Contributions, diplomacy and negotiations 
• Financing a just transition: Baku to Belém roadmap, NCQG, Article 2.1(c), fossil fuel subsidies and finance, financial architecture reform, just transition 
• Industry and False Solutions: Industry pledges, Oil and Gas Decarbonization Charter, IEA / WEO, CCS, False Solutions Subsidies, International Energy Agency and World Energy Outlook, 1.5ºC scenarios
• United States: The fossil fuel giveaways in Senator Whitehouse’s permitting bill (BAAJA), Trump, U.S. Congress, U.S. finance and subsidies, false solutions and CCS, LNG, certified gas, Methane
• Africa: Resistance to oil and gas in Africa, oil and gas expansion in Africa
• Asia: Japan’s energy strategy, Japan’s gas and fossil fuel-based technologies (ammonia/hydrogen co-firing, CCS) expansion in Asia

OCI has spokespeople available on the ground at COP31 for interviews and press panels, as well as remote spokespeople available in alternative timezones for those journalists not in attendance in Antalya.

We will deliver daily media advisories with the most important updates from COP31 on fossil fuel phaseout, fair finance for a just transition, and expert insight on the negotiations. 

If this email was forwarded to you and you would like to be added to our media distribution list, please email [email protected].