Turkish officials in talks for the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA) sought to weaken language on climate change in several draft resolutions, annotated documents seen by Climate Home News show.
Often working alongside Saudi Arabia, Türkiye – host of COP31 next year – pushed to dilute wording on the climate crisis, the science of melting glaciers, and the role of young and Indigenous people, as well as on support for developing nations, in texts being prepared for approval in Nairobi this week. The final versions are still being worked out.
When asked about the issue by Climate Home News, a UN official close to the negotiations said that “certain countries” that don’t want climate change to be mentioned are now “more emboldened than they were ever before to come forward and protect their national interests”.
Türkiye’s actions have raised concern in particular. “It’s rather surprising,” said Öykü Senlen Gundogan, an analyst at think-tank E3G. “Senior Turkish politicians have often called climate change a crisis, and Türkiye is among the countries most exposed to its impacts.”
Türkiye will host COP31 in the city of Antalya in November 2026 and the meeting is expected to be presided over by Turkish environment minister Murat Kurum, but Australia’s Chris Bowen will lead the negotiations.
As host, “Türkiye will be expected to lead by example and ensure its positions are consistent with the ambition it asks of others,” Senlen said.
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Bill Hare, CEO of Climate Analytics, said Türkiye’s moves “look like denial of climate science and of the need for action. This is the last thing the world needs from a COP host.”
Hare noted that Türkiye’s national climate plan is considered “critically insufficient” by Climate Action Tracker – its lowest ranking which is shared by just a handful of countries.
“Instead of messing with the science, Türkiye needs to focus on strengthening its climate policies and implementation so it can be a forward-looking host of COP31, helping the world deal with the climate crisis that everyone else seems to recognise,” he told Climate Home News.
The Turkish government did not respond to a request for comment.
Push to weaken UNEA resolutions
The UNEA, which takes place every two years in the Kenyan capital, allows governments to propose and amend resolutions on environmental issues ranging this year from coral reefs to critical minerals and AI.
This time around, Saudi Arabia – often joined by Russia, Iran and Türkiye – tried to water down several texts, according to annotated drafts seen by Climate Home News. The US has not engaged, calling the UNEA “woke climate change theater”.
In a Fiji-sponsored resolution on coral reefs, Saudi Arabia proposed describing climate change and ocean acidification as “challenges” rather than “threats”.
The EU, for its part, wanted a reference in this resolution to “escalating challenges related to the climate crisis”, but Türkiye and Saudi Arabia suggested “challenges relating to the climate”.
Glacier science downplayed
In a Tajikistan-sponsored motion on preserving glaciers and the wider cryosphere, Türkiye opposed saying that “greater emphasis should be placed” on enhancing scientific work and forecasting of changes, with this information integrated into decision-making. Türkiye proposed just “recognizing the importance” of this work while Saudi Arabia objected to the whole reference to it.
Türkiye, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Iran sought to delete all or part of a sentence recognising that accelerated retreat and melting of the cryosphere – which includes glaciers – is caused by climate change.
Saudi Arabia also tried to weaken a reference to the UN’s goal to get everyone on Earth covered by early warning systems for climate disasters by 2027, changing “reaffirming” that goal to simply “recalling” it.
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In several resolutions, Türkiye sought to remove or narrow references to Indigenous Peoples. Tajikistan proposed calling their role “crucial” and their knowledge “vital”. Türkiye wanted both adjectives deleted, and in another case suggested inserting “where applicable”.
Türkiye and Saudi Arabia attempted to downplay the role of young people too. The title of a Sri Lankan motion proposed enhancing their “meaningful participation” in “environmental governance”. Türkiye proposed changing “participation” to “involvement” and Saudi Arabia wanted to replace “governance” with “events”.
No approval for policy summary of key report
As UNEA opened on Monday, UN officials urged government delegates to show flexibility. UN Environment Programme head Inger Andersen said the world is in turbulent geopolitical waters, which adds “stresses and strains to the multilateral processes” and called on nations to step down “from the ramparts of individual positions to meet on common ground”.
But governments have already proven unable to approve a “summary for policymakers” of the UN’s seventh Global Environment Outlook (GEO-7) report, which outlines the financial costs of environmental degradation and the benefits of making the economy more environmentally-friendly.
In response to a question by Climate Home News, report co-chair and scientist Robert Watson said at a press conference ahead of its release that governments had been divided on issues around fossil fuels, plastics, a circular economy and conflict.
He told the BBC that a small number of countries – including the US, which disagreed with much of the content – “basically just hijacked the process” at an October meeting, meaning the document could not be approved as it requires consensus.
Instead of the expected summary for policy-makers, the authors produced an executive summary – which doesn’t require a green light from governments at the UNEA. Watson said it is still “a very good synthesis of what the larger [GEO-7] report says”.
The post Saudi Arabia and COP31 host Türkiye move to weaken climate language at UNEA appeared first on Climate Home News.
Saudi Arabia and COP31 host Türkiye move to weaken climate language at UNEA
The case shows that climate change is a fundamental human rights violation—and the victory of Bonaire, a Dutch territory, could open the door for similar lawsuits globally.
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Climate Change
Greenpeace organisations to appeal USD $345 million court judgment in Energy Transfer’s intimidation lawsuit
SYDNEY, Saturday 28 February 2026 — Greenpeace International and Greenpeace organisations in the US announce they will seek a new trial and, if necessary, appeal the decision with the North Dakota Supreme Court following a North Dakota District Court judgment today awarding Energy Transfer (ET) USD $345 million.
ET’s SLAPP suit remains a blatant attempt to silence free speech, erase Indigenous leadership of the Standing Rock movement, and punish solidarity with peaceful resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline. Greenpeace International will also continue to seek damages for ET’s bullying lawsuits under EU anti-SLAPP legislation in the Netherlands.
Mads Christensen, Greenpeace International Executive Director said: “Energy Transfer’s attempts to silence us are failing. Greenpeace International will continue to resist intimidation tactics. We will not be silenced. We will only get louder, joining our voices to those of our allies all around the world against the corporate polluters and billionaire oligarchs who prioritise profits over people and the planet.
“With hard-won freedoms under threat and the climate crisis accelerating, the stakes of this legal fight couldn’t be higher. Through appeals in the US and Greenpeace International’s groundbreaking anti-SLAPP case in the Netherlands, we are exploring every option to hold Energy Transfer accountable for multiple abusive lawsuits and show all power-hungry bullies that their attacks will only result in a stronger people-powered movement.”
The Court’s final judgment today rejects some of the jury verdict delivered in March 2025, but still awards hundreds of millions of dollars to ET without a sound basis in law. The Greenpeace defendants will continue to press their arguments that the US Constitution does not allow liability here, that ET did not present evidence to support its claims, that the Court admitted inflammatory and irrelevant evidence at trial and excluded other evidence supporting the defense, and that the jury pool in Mandan could not be impartial.[1][2]
ET’s back-to-back lawsuits against Greenpeace International and the US organisations Greenpeace USA (Greenpeace Inc.) and Greenpeace Fund are clear-cut examples of SLAPPs — lawsuits attempting to bury nonprofits and activists in legal fees, push them towards bankruptcy and ultimately silence dissent.[3] Greenpeace International, which is based in the Netherlands, is pursuing justice in Europe, with a suit against ET under Dutch law and the European Union’s new anti-SLAPP directive, a landmark test of the new legislation which could help set a powerful precedent against corporate bullying.[4]
Kate Smolski, Program Director at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, said: “This is part of a worrying trend globally: fossil fuel corporations are increasingly using litigation to attack and silence ordinary people and groups using the law to challenge their polluting operations — and we’re not immune to these tactics here in Australia.
“Rulings like this have a chilling effect on democracy and public interest litigation — we must unite against these silencing tactics as bad for Australians and bad for our democracy. Our movement is stronger than any corporate bully, and grows even stronger when under attack.”
Energy Transfer’s SLAPPs are part of a wave of abusive lawsuits filed by Big Oil companies like Shell, Total, and ENI against Greenpeace entities in recent years.[3] A couple of these cases have been successfully stopped in their tracks. This includes Greenpeace France successfully defeating TotalEnergies’ SLAPP on 28 March 2024, and Greenpeace UK and Greenpeace International forcing Shell to back down from its SLAPP on 10 December 2024.
-ENDS-
Images available in Greenpeace Media Library
Notes:
[1] The judgment entered by North Dakota District Court Judge Gion follows a jury verdict finding Greenpeace entities liable for more than US$660 million on March 19, 2025. Judge Gion subsequently threw out several items from the jury’s verdict, reducing the total damages to approximately US$345 million.
[2] Public statements from the independent Trial Monitoring Committee
[3] Energy Transfer’s first lawsuit was filed in federal court in 2017 under the RICO Act – the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, a US federal statute designed to prosecute mob activity. The case was dismissed in 2019, with the judge stating the evidence fell “far short” of what was needed to establish a RICO enterprise. The federal court did not decide on Energy Transfer’s claims based on state law, so Energy Transfer promptly filed a new case in a North Dakota state court with these and other state law claims.
[4] Greenpeace International sent a Notice of Liability to Energy Transfer on 23 July 2024, informing the pipeline giant of Greenpeace International’s intention to bring an anti-SLAPP lawsuit against the company in a Dutch Court. After Energy Transfer declined to accept liability on multiple occasions (September 2024, December 2024), Greenpeace International initiated the first test of the European Union’s anti-SLAPP Directive on 11 February 2025 by filing a lawsuit in Dutch court against Energy Transfer. The case was officially registered in the docket of the Court of Amsterdam on 2 July, 2025. Greenpeace International seeks to recover all damages and costs it has suffered as a result of Energy Transfers’s back-to-back, abusive lawsuits demanding hundreds of millions of dollars from Greenpeace International and the Greenpeace organisations in the US. The next hearing in the Court of Amsterdam is scheduled for 16 April, 2026.
Media contact:
Kate O’Callaghan on 0406 231 892 or kate.ocallaghan@greenpeace.org
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