Portugal arrives at COP31 in Antalya pressed to boost climate finance and phase out fossil fuels

Conference opens in Antalya

The 31st UN Climate Change Conference, known as COP31, opens in Antalya, Turkey, on Monday, 9 November 2026. The organisers describe this edition as "the COP of implementation", a label the previous summit in Belém, Brazil, also carried. Portugal arrives with progress in its energy transition but with commitments still to be delivered, and its environmental association ZERO has set out what it wants the government to deliver.

The warming gap

An Emissions Gap Report published in October 2026 warned that the world is on course for 2.8 degrees of warming by the end of the century, and that the 1.5 degree goal has become nearly impossible. To keep the Paris Agreement target within reach, the report said global greenhouse gas emissions must fall by 45% by 2035 and by 69% by 2040. A World Meteorological Organization report released on Monday, 9 November, put the global average temperature for the first nine months of 2026 at 1.47 degrees above the pre-industrial era. The same report said 2026 is set to be one of the four warmest years since records began.

Oil demand and electrification

The Dubai conference of three years ago promised a shift away from fossil fuels but set no implementation timetable. Global oil consumption passed 104 million barrels a day last year and dipped only slightly in 2026, to about 102 million barrels a day, because of the Hormuz crisis and a spike in energy prices. Commentary on the conference notes that the planet is still far from a structural reform of how it uses energy, and that commitments tend to stall when the transition means solar panels, wind towers and new high-voltage lines near homes. Negotiations over the coming days will centre on electrification, with a target for electricity to make up 35% of world final energy consumption by 2035, up from the current 20%. Portugal stands at 26.4%, a position the commentary describes as not bad overall, though the road ahead is long.

World, current20%

Portugal, current26.4%

World target, 203535%

World, current

20 %

Portugal, current

26.4 %

World target, 2035

35 %

Data from the article text

What ZERO wants from Portugal

ZERO is asking the government for a multi-year climate finance plan, a timetable for phasing out fossil fuels, deadlines for ending gas in electricity production, and completion of measures already provided for in national law. Its president, Francisco Ferreira, met journalists in the last week before the delegation's departure and cited the country's record as grounds for influence. He pointed to the end of coal-fired power in 2021, membership of the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance and Portugal's support for an international roadmap to leave fossil fuels behind. That roadmap, backed by about 30 countries, did not make it into the final COP30 agreement in Belém last year.

Ferreira put his case this way:

“We have the credentials to have a strong voice in the negotiations.”

Finance and Lusophone cooperation

Ferreira criticised the habit of announcing new pledges at each conference, citing last year's one million for a tropical forests fund launched by Brazil. ZERO wants Portugal to set a long-term strategy for helping developing countries, with support that favours adaptation and does not add to the debt of the most vulnerable. The association also points to the debt-for-climate-investment mechanism already in place between Portugal and Cabo Verde as a model for other countries.

“We should extend debt conversion to São Tomé and have a Lusophone climate fund.”

ZERO and the NGO Oikos will take a proposal for a Lusophone Fund for Climate Action to the conference, along with a call for closer energy and environmental cooperation among Portuguese-speaking countries. At home, the association wants the government to present a national roadmap for phasing out fossil fuels.