'Ego manoeuvring' behind the scenes at COP30, Pacific delegate at the UN climate talks says

Photo Credit: AFP / Ludovic Marin via rnz.co.nz Excerpt from rnz.co.nz

Pacific Islands Forum's climate adviser Karlos Lee Moresi, who is at the talks in Belém, said the negotiations for who will host COP31 is tough.

"We have Australia with the Pacific very adamant that we need, not only do we want, we need to have a COP in the Pacific. The Türkiye position is they're not giving up," Moresi said.

"In all honesty, there's a bit of political and ego manoeuvring happening behind the scenes."

Moresi said he thought Türkiye was trying to influence European countries to host the event.

He said as a last resort, and if COP is hosted in Türkiye, the Pacific would want something from Türkiye in response.

"It is not something that we're really entertaining actively as an option to put forward on the table for now."

COP30 began in Belém on Monday. It has been 10 years since the landmark Paris Agreement was signed.