Australia will not oppose a successful Turkish bid to host next year's COP31 climate summit, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said, warning a prolonged standoff over hosting rights could undermine unity required to help the Pacific island nations.
Albanese earlier this week ruled out a joint hosting arrangement, which Türkiye had suggested, saying United Nations rules do not permit co-hosts for the annual summit.
But on Tuesday he said there was "considerable concern" from countries, including Pacific nations, that a failure to reach consensus could jeopardise efforts to push for a united diplomatic front to act on climate.
"If Australia is not chosen, if Türkiye is chosen, we wouldn't seek to veto that. What we would seek to do is to ensure that the Pacific benefited from that," Albanese told reporters.
"What we're doing is continuing to engage ... not just with Türkiye, but other countries as well to make sure that the interests of the Pacific are looked after."
Australia has campaigned to host COP31 alongside Pacific island nations for the first time, backed by the 18-member Pacific Islands Forum. Many Pacific states are on the front lines of rising sea levels and have pushed for more global efforts on climate finance and emission cuts.
Under UN rules, the 28-member 'Western Europe and Others Group' bloc, whose turn it is to host COP31 and which includes Australia and Türkiye, must unanimously decide.
Consensus must be reached at COP30, currently underway in Belem, Brazil, and scheduled to end on Friday (21 November).
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