COP31 Climate Summit: UN warns of ‘new age of climate extremes’

World leaders opened the COP31 climate summit on Monday (November 9) under a stark warning that extreme weather is becoming the norm and a super El Nino could make it worse.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the world had “entered a new age of climate extremes”. He urged leaders to “get serious” by cutting emissions faster, accelerating a just transition from fossil fuels, and delivering the finance and protection that vulnerable countries need.

“A supersized El Nino is colliding with a planet already superheated by manmade climate change,” he said.

Record heat, rising seas

His statement coincided with a World Meteorological Organization (WMO) report showing 2026 continuing a streak of exceptional temperatures, melting ice, and rising seas. Each of the past 12 years has ranked among the 12 hottest on record. Global average surface temperature from January to September was about 1.47 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average.

WMO chief Celeste Saulo said the current El Nino is expected to be the strongest since at least 1950 and could unleash more heat and extreme weather well into next year.

“We should prepare for another record-breaking year in 2027,” she said.

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The ocean has been the warmest-ever measured, global sea level is the highest on record, freshwater is dwindling, and glaciers continue to retreat.

There was some positive news. The number of countries with multi-hazard early warning systems rose from 55 in 2015 to 136 last year. The WMO urged COP31 to back sustained investment in global observation and forecasting.

“We cannot afford to fly blind,” Saulo said.

'Shift to clean energy in every country's interest'

Addressing the opening plenary, UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell pointed to the rising heat crisis, glacial lake outburst floods in the Himalayas, and the threat of a super El Nino.

“Global heating is already costing the Earth,” he said, adding that the vulnerable pay the highest price.

Stiell said this year’s volatility in fossil fuel costs had pushed up household expenses and fuelled inflation. Renewable energy, he noted, saved around half a trillion dollars last year and another USD 265 billion in the first half of this year. A fair shift to clean energy, he argued, is in every country’s interest.

He also cautioned that the conference faces financial constraints even as its responsibilities grow, with budget consultations needed over the next six months.

“We cannot keep doing more with less. No COP is a silver bullet,” he said, adding that every recent COP has delivered strides forward and “this one must too”.

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COP31 President-designate Murat Kurum, Turkiye’s Minister of Environment and Urban Planning, called for an “Implementation COP” to close the gap between promises made at successive summits and their impact on people’s lives. He said war and geopolitical tensions are redrawing trade routes and supply chains while hundreds of millions struggle to put food on the table. Failure to fund adaptation, he warned, could aggravate humanitarian crises in vulnerable countries.

Kurum said the 1.5 degree Celsius goal remains the guide.

“The decisions we take in Antalya will only truly come to life when they leave these halls,” he said.

(With agency inputs)