COP31 presidency ‘open’ to reflecting Santa Marta in UN climate process, ministers say

Colombia and the Netherlands, which co-hosted the first conference the first conference on transitioning away from fossil fuels earlier this year, say they have held “constructive” discussions on bringing the meeting’s outcomes to the COP31 climate summit. Speaking on the sidelines of London Climate Action Week, the outgoing Colombian environment minister and Dutch climate policy minister, said COP31 presidencies Australia and Türkiye were “open” to suggestions on how to reflect the discussions in Santa Marta on transitioning away from coal, oil and gas at the end-of-year summit. What format this might take, “we don’t know yet,” said Colombian minister Irene Vélez Torres. “We had this very interesting conversation with COP31 and they were clearly open for suggestions about what is needed in the discussion in Türkiye, and we were explicit about the need to engage with the phasing out of fossil fuels,” she said. Jun 18, 2026 News Bonn climate talks end in “gridlock” on adaptation and emissions-cutting Splits between developed and developing countries over finance and science held back progress on key areas of climate action, leaving disappointment and much work for COP31 Read more Jun 18, 2026 Comment The UN climate process was built for negotiation – now it must support implementation Consultations are underway on reforms to streamline the talks, which take too long to produce outcomes that are often not adequate to tackle the scale of the climate crisis Read more Australia and Türkiye will jointly preside over the COP31 climate conference, which is taking place in the Turkish resort city of Antalya in November. Türkiye will lead on the action agenda, referring to initiatives that lie outside of the formal negotiations, while Australia will chair the negotiations. Dutch minister Stientje van Veldhoven said the outcomes of the Santa Marta conference could be part of COP31’s action agen