President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani has said that Mauritania is implementing ambitious programmes to combat desertification, restore degraded land and strengthen resilience to climate change in cooperation with international partners.

Addressing the UN’s COP31 climate summit in Türkiye's southern province of Antalya, Ghazouani said tackling climate change and adapting to its consequences are among his country's most pressing social, economic and security priorities.

He highlighted Mauritania's participation in the Great Green Wall initiative, aimed at restoring degraded land in Africa's Sahel region, as well as its involvement in the Climate Commission for the Sahel Region and the Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel.

Brazil's President Lula da Silva warns that wars, military spending, and tariffs sideline the climate emergency from the G7 and G20 agendas.

PM Anthony Albanese urges countries to turn climate commitments into action, calling for greater investment in clean energy, faster electrification and climate finance for vulnerable nations.

"Ankara is actively working to integrate renewable energy and expand domestic production, use and global exports of sustainable aviation fuel," an official says.

"Those with the greatest responsibility and the means to act must lead with deeper cuts this decade," Prime Minister Abiy tells world leaders at COP31, ahead of next year's summit in Ethiopia.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa has held meetings with leaders and senior officials from seven countries on the sidelines of the 31st UN Climate Change Conference (COP31) in Türkiye's southern province of Antalya.

Al Sharaa met Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Bangladeshi Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, according to posts on the Syrian president's official Facebook account.

He also held meetings with Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz and Nechirvan Barzani, president of Iraq's KRG.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has received Chinese Vice President Han Zheng in the southern Turkish city of Antalya, where both are attending the Leaders' Summit of COP31, the UN Climate Change Conference.

The meeting focused on bilateral relations as well as regional and global issues, said Türkiye's Communications Directorate.

Erdogan stressed the importance of accelerating cooperation between the two countries, saying they could strengthen ties in several areas, particularly investment, energy, trade, and tourism.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has warned of the huge impact of the “climate emergency", including extreme heat, while attending the COP31 UN climate conference in Antalya, Türkiye.

“This year has been another stark reminder of the devastating impacts of climate change, including the extreme heat experienced in London,” he wrote on X.

He stressed that the time for action is now, adding that delay is “not an option".

“We must go further and faster to tackle the climate emergency,” Khan said.

The president of the UN General Assembly said Wednesday that the COP31 climate conference must translate global climate pledges into tangible execution, warning that the world is veering sharply off course from established emissions limits.

"Paris gave us a compass, the UAE consensus gave us a direction, and the Taku Pakasoa Declaration gave us the islands’ and Pacific's voice. Antalya must now give us delivery," Khalilur Rahman told reporters during the UN Climate Conference in the southern Turkish city of Antalya.

Rahman noted that global carbon emissions reached a record 42 billion in 2025, with the last 12 years registering as the warmest on record, highlighting the growing environmental divide.

While the 2015 Paris Agreement targeted a 1.5°C threshold, he warned that current trajectories head toward 2.8°C, calling the disparity "not a gap; it's a chasm, and people are falling into it every day."