Antalya, Türkiye — At the halfway point of COP31, UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell used his midpoint press conference to make a point that had little to do with negotiating text and everything to do with how the world hears about it: the climate story must reach people where they already are — through sport, films, music and television.
Stiell took stock of the first week of the Antalya summit at the press conference on Saturday morning, 14 November, in Press Conference Room Mevlana. He was joined on stage not by negotiators but by storytellers: Telemundo journalist Vanessa Hauc and Tamseel Hussain, founder and chief executive of the creators’ platform PLUC. Together they made the case that climate action will only move as fast as public understanding — and public understanding moves through the stories people actually watch, hear and share.
Key facts
- The COP31 midpoint press conference was held on Saturday, 14 November 2026, from 10:30 to 11:30 Antalya time, in Press Conference Room Mevlana.
- Nearly 200 countries are working through 165 negotiating mandates at COP31, according to UN Climate Change.
- Stiell told the press conference: “There is no collective success without compromise from every Party.”
- Telemundo’s Vanessa Hauc brought the climate story to millions watching this summer’s World Cup, using hydration breaks to explain what was happening and why it mattered.
- Tamseel Hussain, founder and chief executive of PLUC, helps a new generation of creators tell stories rooted in people’s lives.
- The final Entertainment and Culture for Climate Action Salon at COP31 takes place on Saturday evening, 17:00–18:00, featuring the FLOW Project.
No collective success without compromise
The negotiations update was blunt. Stiell urged governments to move swiftly to the hardest issues and to avoid tactical delays as the talks enter their second and final week, with the fossil-fuel divide still unresolved. He described the engagement so far as constructive, while making clear that agreement on every word remains tough work and that no country can succeed alone.
He identified electrification and access to finance among the issues receiving attention, and said climate action was increasingly connected to governments’ efforts to protect households from rising costs and strengthen their economies. On Friday, the COP31 Presidency published a summary of reflections on a proposed cover decision — a list of options including advancing the transition away from fossil fuels, recognising the role of forests and oceans, and responding to the prospect of temperatures overshooting 1.5 degrees Celsius. None of it is agreed yet; countries are expected to submit text proposals over the weekend, with a proper draft emerging early next week.
The Presidency also held its daily media briefing on Saturday, with COP31 President Murat Kurum, President of Negotiations Chris Bowen and Stiell updating journalists on the talks. On Saturday evening, Australia and Türkiye were due to preside over a stocktaking plenary, where countries’ first red lines were expected to emerge, after campaigners took to the streets of Antalya calling for climate justice, according to Climate Home News’ Day 6 bulletin from the summit. The full schedule of what week two holds, from Monday’s science and technology day to Friday’s closing plenaries, is set out in Watan News’ COP31 week-two events guide.
The storytellers on stage
The most striking part of the morning was who shared the stage. Hauc told the press conference how she carried the climate story to the millions watching this summer’s World Cup, using the hydration breaks in matches to explain what was happening on a warming planet and why it mattered — climate information delivered inside the world’s most-watched sporting event, not beside it.
Hussain described helping a new generation of creators tell stories rooted in people’s lives — the kind of grounded, local storytelling that reaches audiences who never read a negotiation text. Stiell’s message was that both belong at the centre of the climate effort: connecting climate action to people’s everyday lives through UN Climate Change’s Sports for Climate Action and Entertainment and Culture for Climate Action initiatives.
“Beyond negotiations, he called for climate communication to reach audiences through sport, films, music and television, connecting the subject with everyday concerns such as jobs, health and affordable energy,” Okay News reported from the press conference.
Music and film take the stage on Saturday evening
The storytelling theme continues on Saturday evening. UN Climate Change’s Entertainment and Culture for Climate Action initiative hosts its third and final Salon at COP31, from 17:00 to 18:00 in Special Event Room 3 (Assos) in the Blue Zone. The session, “Making Adaptation Personal: The FLOW Project and the Stories We Live By”, features a multi-artist performance of Flow’s original music, bringing together women artists from different countries to share stories of water, health and climate justice through music.
The session also screens a short exclusive excerpt from the Flow documentary, offering a first glimpse into the stories of women on the front lines of the water crisis. The full film will be officially released on World Water Day, 22 March 2027.
Young voices at the table
Saturday, 14 November, is Children, Youth, Education and Skills Day at COP31, and Stiell also met the Youth Constituency at a roundtable during the day. “Young people are not just part of COPs. You have the greatest stake in its outcomes. And your voices make this process stronger,” he told them. “Young people bring new perspectives, challenge us to do better, and refuse to let ambition slip.”
Last year, for the first time, UN Climate Change’s report on national climate plans included a section dedicated to children and youth. Of the 64 countries covered, 88 per cent said they had considered children and young people in their plans, or intended to do so — up from 61 per cent in their previous plans. Stiell said young people need a greater stake in designing and delivering practical solutions, because they bring a unique understanding of climate change.
Why the way the story is told matters
The press conference carried a wider message for the week ahead. Negotiations decide the text; journalism, film, music and sport decide whether the public understands what is at stake and holds governments to it. That is why reliable reporting from Antalya matters — and why it is under pressure. Earlier in the week, UNESCO warned that AI chatbots can be pressed into giving false climate claims, a reminder that the information environment around COP31 needs verified reporting as much as the negotiations need agreement.
The COP31 venue is closed on Sunday, 15 November, with no activities in the Blue Zone, and the talks resume on Monday, 16 November, when ministers take up the most contested issues. A day earlier, UN Secretary-General António Guterres, speaking at his final press conference at a COP as Secretary-General, urged the world to “face the facts, follow the science, choose the future, and never give up” — a message the second week will now be judged against.
Whether COP31 lands an ambitious outcome will be decided in the negotiating rooms of week two. But Saturday’s press conference argued that the outcome will only matter if it is told well — in the languages of sport, film, music and the creators who speak to the next generation.
