Attendance Surge for COP31 Climate Summit in Antalya
Over 92,000 individuals have confirmed their participation for the COP31 climate summit in Antalya, Turkey, setting the stage to become the largest COP event to date.
According to a detailed analysis by Carbon Brief, based on initial delegate lists released by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), approximately 14,000 attendees are categorized as “host country guests.”
In stark contrast, COP30 held in Belém, Brazil last year recorded only about 1,000 guests in this category.
Notable Absences
The delegation from the United States, under the administration of Donald Trump, is absent from this year’s event, consistent with their lack of participation at COP30. Additionally, countries like Israel and Myanmar will not send representatives.
Prior to the summit, reports indicated that officials from the Taliban in Afghanistan had registered as observers. However, the current provisional lists do not include any delegates from observer states.
With an additional 3,000 participants opting for virtual attendance, the total registered count exceeds 95,000.
More comprehensive analysis of participant demographics will be updated in subsequent reports.
Record-Breaking Delegates
With 92,934 participants listed, COP31 is on track to eclipse the attendance record set by COP28 in Dubai, which hosted over 80,000 attendees.
This figure represents those who will be physically present at the summit, and the UNFCCC will release final attendance numbers—derived from participants collecting their badges—after the conference concludes.
The provisional figures for COP31 illustrate a significant increase compared to previous events, extending back to COP1 in 1995. The chart below depicts these comparisons.
The UNFCCC’s participant lists categorize attendees by their respective groups. The largest contingent at COP31 consists of delegates representing nations that have ratified the convention, totaling 18,812 individuals, making it the second largest delegation after COP28.
In accordance with recent practice, the UNFCCC has publicly shared the names of all registered individuals (excluding support staff), a departure from previous years where unnamed “overflow” participants were common.
National Delegations
The following section presents a detailed overview of the participating nations, highlighting the size of their delegations at COP31. The intensity of shading in the accompanying map indicates the number of delegates from each country.
Turkey, as the host nation, has the largest delegation, comprising 2,950 members. Not far behind, Brazil has registered 1,994 attendees, followed by Nigeria, China, and Indonesia with 1,506, 1,021, and 978 participants respectively.
The remaining nations in the top ten include Australia (835), Uganda (627), Italy (607), Japan (588), and Kazakhstan (557). In contrast, the United Kingdom’s delegation totals only 255.
North Korea emerges with the smallest delegation, contributing just two members, trailed by Eritrea and Nicaragua with three, and San Marino and Trinidad and Tobago with four each.
It is significant to note that some countries, such as Brazil, allocate a portion of their badges to NGOs, potentially inflating the official size of their delegations.
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