Turkey’s persistence in COP31 race creates potential headaches for Adelaide’s climate summit organisers

Australia’s hopes of hosting the world’s biggest climate summit are in limbo, with organisers facing a potential scramble to deliver on the world stage, writes Jess Adamson.

While hosting COP31 will have enormous benefits for the state, it will take a mamouth amount of planning, work and volunteering to get it to run smoothly – with an increasingly limited amount of time to prepare. Picture: Roy VanDerVegt

Things aren’t exactly going to plan with Australia’s bid for COP31.

It was hoped that Turkey, the only other country vying for the rights, would have stepped aside by now, allowing Adelaide and South Australia to take centre stage.

No countries in the group of 29 nations that will decide the 2026 host are publicly backing Turkey, but President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is staying the course, and that’s causing major headaches for those tasked with organising the biggest annual event on the planet, outside the Olympic Games.

COP31 is the Conference of the Parties, the world’s most important annual climate change summit.

Adelaide is the commonwealth’s pick to host the United Nations event should our national bid be successful.

If Adelaide is the chosen host, and it’s still not clear when that will be known, it’ll be a mad race to the finish to pull this thing off.

Make no mistake, this is a golden opportunity for our state.

But the clock is ticking and, if we are given the chance, we can’t afford to underdeliver on the world stage.

While none of the nations who will decide who will host COP31 have publicly endorsed Turkey, they have yet to pull out of the race. Picture: Pierre Crom/Getty Images

An enormous amount of work is already under way to ensure we do.

In a perfect scenario, come next November, we’ll be hosting more than 30,000 international visitors for at least a fortnight.

At capacity, our hotels in the CBD and close regions can accommodate 11,353 people, so we’re going to have to get creative.

Every hotel in and around the city is being scoped for beds and scrutinised for security risks.

Australian Hotels Association SA chief executive Anna Moeller says our wide range of options, from caravan parks to serviced apartments and international hotels, is a plus.

“There’s no doubt this will be the greatest opportunity ever to reach 100 per cent occupancy across the board, not just in the CBD but the greater Adelaide area,” she says.

Cruise ships have been considered for extra beds but only as a last resort.

Delegates will be travelling from the Barossa, the Hills and the Fleurieu each day.

Some will be commuting from the east coast.

If you’ve ever considered Airbnb-ing your home, put a ring around next November on the calendar now.

It could be a great time to take a road trip, all expenses paid.

Geopolitical tensions between countries need to be managed when allocating who’s sleeping near who.

So too, the personal safety of international leaders – presidents and prime ministers, climate commissioners and world bank leaders.

Thousands of specially trained police will be brought in from around the country to watch and manage their every move.

Plans are being drawn up to manage our public transport, traffic, airport, hospitals and a range of disaster scenarios.

Just like the Sydney Olympics, we’ll need an army of volunteers to help things run smoothly.

Major conferences booked in months ago for November next year are being relocated to other states or put on hold, pending the decision.

For many South Australians, having 30,000 visitors in town will be an unwanted interruption. But with the eyes of the world on Adelaide, it’s an economic and branding opportunity like we’ve never seen before, a state-defining moment.

The SA Business Chamber threw its support behind Australia’s bid for COP ahead of the 2022 election.

Business SA chief executive Andrew Kay threw his support behind Australia’s bid for COP ahead of the 2022 election. Picture: Dean Martin

Chief executive Andrew Kay says with our global leadership in renewable energy, unique natural environment and world class conference track record, we’re the “logical choice”.

COP also brings the world’s biggest clean energy trade fair, encouraging investment and collaboration.

“A conference of this scale will inject more than $500m into the economy and leave a positive legacy for local businesses, workers and learning institutions,” Mr Kay says.

“More than a sugar hit to the economy, it will open the door to ongoing partnerships, investment opportunities, and tourism.”

The CBD will be divided into zones. The blue zone, from North Tce to Adelaide Oval, taking in the Convention Centre and the Riverbank precinct, will be strictly for the delegates, a no-go zone for the rest of us.

The Convention Centre and Adelaide Oval will be the main hubs for the conference with temporary structures built in between.

Every restaurant and pub in town will be booked for the duration, city retailers will be working overtime, and our tourism operators will be showcasing our regions, food and wine to an audience who generally spend four times the amount a leisure tourist spends every day.

North Tce, the heart of our scientific and cultural boulevard stretching from SAHMRI to the Botanic Garden, will be humming.

The behind-the-scenes planning going on, for an event we might not land, is mind blowing. Premier Peter Malinauskas told a recent Parliamentary Estimates Committee that those he’s put in charge have no easy task. “For the poor people that I have imposed this on, it is actually terrifying,” he says.

“They have got no choice but to get to work under the assumption that we may get this. If we do not find out until later in the year, hypothetically, that we get it, then the window will almost be too small for us to start to do any preparatory work.

“I do not think the South Australian community have yet fully comprehended just the size and the scale of this thing.”

It’s risky business but a risk the Premier believes is worth taking.

“You can either sit back and say, ‘Look, we’re not going to try in case we fail’.

That is not what I teach my kids,’” he says.

“I teach that you should always have your hand up and have a go.”

In a perfect world, Adelaide will be announced as the host of COP31 in the next few weeks.

Seventeen months is not much time to pull it together. It’s going to take a united effort and we must be willing and proud ambassadors.