COP31 opens with leaders under pressure to tackle climate crisis

ANTALYA, Turkiye: The COP31 climate talks kicked off Monday with an early fight over money as the UN’s chief urged world leaders to “get serious” about tackling the crisis after a year of devastating weather extremes.

Antonio Guterres made his plea as thousands of participants descended on a sprawling expo center in the Turkish Mediterranean city of Antalya for the UN’s annual two-week climate conference.

The summit comes after a year of punishing heatwaves in Europe, major wildfires in Indonesia and catastrophic floods in Nepal, with an exceptionally strong El Nino weather phenomenon fueling more climate chaos.

“We have entered a new age of climate extremes,” Guterres said in a statement.