Statue of a coal miner in Zonguldak, Turkey's coal capital. OVKNHR/shutterstockTurkey is making electrification a central theme of this year’s UN climate summit, Cop31, which it is currently hosting in the Mediterranean city of Antalya alongside Australia. The ambition is to raise the share of global energy demand met by electricity from 20% today to 35% by 2035.But there is a tension in this agenda. More electrification will only cut emissions if the electricity comes from cleaner sources. In Turkey, coal and natural gas still account for more than half of electricity generation, while the country is also pursuing new oil and gas exploration deals. Ahead of a speech at the summit, the country’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced what he called the “encouraging” discovery of two new oilfields.Turkey occupies an unusual position under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the overall treaty under which the annual climate summits and the Paris agreement emissions targets operate. When the convention was established in 1992, it divided countries into three main groups according to their economic circumstances and responsibilities for tackling climate change.Annex I countries include industrialised nations and economies in transition that are expected to take the lead in cutting emissions. Annex II is a smaller group of wealthy industrialised nations also required to provide financial and technological support to developing countries. Most developing countries fall outside these annexes and are classified as Non-Annex I. Turkey was originally placed in both Annex I and II as a member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) group of largely high-income countries. However, it argued that its economic circumstances and historically low levels of emissions warranted differentiated treatment from other OECD members.A unique compromiseIn 2001, it secured a unique compromise, and became the only country in the world to be removed from Annex II while staying in Annex I, with other countries formally recognising its “special circumstances”. Antalya, host of this year’s UN climate summit. Esin Deniz / shutterstock This left Turkey in a diplomatic limbo. It was no longer obliged to provide climate finance for developing countries, but its Annex I status meant it could not access some of the international funding available to them. The dispute over its eligibility for this support continued for years and was one factor that delayed Turkey’s ratification of the Paris agreement until 2021.Since then, Turkey has secured substantial international support for its energy transition. Most notably, it secured a US$3.2 billion (£2.4 billion) financing package from the World Bank, France, Germany and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. This is funding renewable energy and energy efficiency, alongside efforts to secure private investment. However, access to finance is only part of the problem. A round table of UN-affiliated staff and academic experts held in July 2026 found that Turkey’s national climate commitments tend to articulate ambition without specifying how exactly this will be achieved. Successful pilots rarely turn into actual policy. Likewise, the report from the round table calls for Cop31 to be an “implementation Cop” that prioritised delivering on existing commitments over announcing new ones.Still hooked on coalDespite rapid growth in renewable energy capacity, Turkey remains heavily dependent on fossil fuels to generate electricity. Coal accounted for 33% of the country’s electricity generation in 2025, while natural gas supplied another 22%. This means phasing out coal will require a sustained strategic effort. Turkey adopted its first climate law in 2025, which codified an ambitious target for net-zero emissions by 2053. In this context, prioritising the rhetoric of electrification at Cop31 over phasing out coal might reveal a serious limitation of Turkey’s commitment to its climate goals.This contradiction is also apparent in Turkey’s recent deals to expand its exploration for natural gas and oil, despite its net-zero target. In early 2026, state-owned Turkish Petroleum signed agreements with fossil fuel multinationals ExxonMobil, Chevron and BP to explore and develop further oil and gasfields. Activists have also criticised the appointment of major conglomerates linked to environmental disputes as official summit sponsors. Cop31’s “sustainable transformation partner” is a firm that plans to build more coal power plants, while another sponsor is linked to widespread deforestation to make way for coal mines.There are also worries about how inclusive the summit will prove to be. Speakers in the host-managed Green Zone have been required to sign a declaration pledging compliance with Turkish law and “public morality”, omitting standard UN protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. The declaration also warned delegates against “interfering in internal affairs”, which could result in the silencing of political dissent.Turkey’s unusual position in the international climate system explains some of the difficulties it has faced in its transition. But it cannot explain away the country’s continuing dependence on coal and gas, its pursuit of new fossil fuel projects or the questions surrounding the inclusiveness of the summit itself. With Australia leading the negotiations and Turkey hosting the event, Cop31 highlights these contradictions.Ezgi Unsal does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.