Guterres Demands Tax on Oil Windfall Profits at COP31 as G7 Leaders Skip Antalya Talks

ANTALYA — Fossil fuels must go the way of the dinosaurs.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres delivered that sharp warning to world leaders on Wednesday, mounting a fierce broadside against the oil and gas lobby as the two-week COP31 climate summit opened in the Mediterranean city of Antalya. Speaking in his final appearance at a COP summit before his term concludes in December, Guterres confronted a plenary hall thinned by high-profile absences.

"The brutal truth is that the climate crisis is outrunning us," Guterres said.

The summit convenes under immense pressure following a year marked by destructive European wildfires and lethal flooding in Nepal. Yet negotiations running through November 20 face steep headwinds—snarled by an oil price shock and escalating geopolitical fallout from the United States war with Iran and Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Nations pledged in 2023 to transition away from fossil fuels. Progress has stalled ever since.

Guterres demanded that national governments step in directly to tax the windfall profits of multinational oil producers.

Empty Seats and Shifting Alliances

The political weight inside the venue remains distinctly lopsided. British Prime Minister Andy Burnham stands as the solitary head of government from the Group of Seven scheduled to take the podium.

Other Western capitals stayed away. French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni skipped the Mediterranean gathering, prioritizing an overlapping European Union leaders' summit scheduled for Thursday in Ireland. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi were also absent from the latest official attendance rosters.

Washington sent nobody. US President Donald Trump, who withdrew the United States from the Paris Agreement and boycotted international climate talks following his 2024 re-election, shunned the conference entirely. Chinese President Xi Jinping opted out, sending Vice President Han Zheng to head Beijing's delegation. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not travel to Antalya.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, fresh off an election victory against right-wing opponent Flavio Bolsonaro, took direct aim at the shifting priorities of major powers.

"Since the start of this year, climate change has disappeared from speeches and documents from our global leadership," Lula told delegates. "We've turned to talking more about arms and tariffs than the survival of future generations."

Lula, whose administration drove down Amazon deforestation rates, declared that "Brazil is back to defend the continuity of a healthy planet."

Turkey Pushes 35% Electrification Target

COP31 host Turkey is steering diplomatic capital toward a voluntary energy framework. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is pushing delegates to sign onto a target that lifts electricity's share of global energy consumption to 35 percent by 2035 across the industrial, building, and transportation sectors.

Erdogan argued that the global community requires a "fair" transition that safeguards domestic industrial security and individual development priorities.

That roadmap faces immediate scrutiny. European negotiators, led by EU climate official Wopke Hoekstra, insist that any global electrification mandate must rely strictly on renewable power rather than coal, gas, or oil. Hoekstra downplayed the leadership vacuum in Antalya, remarking from Brussels that while leader absences are "not completely atypical" due to practical constraints, expectations for sweeping breakthroughs remain low.

Delegates now enter technical working sessions to hammer out draft language on clean grid commitments and financing mechanisms before negotiations close on November 20.