Several prominent world leaders are skipping this year's UN climate summit in Türkiye, raising concerns over global commitment to tackling climate change as extreme weather events intensify.

The two-week COP31 conference began earlier this week in Antalya, with governments under pressure to address global warming following deadly floods in Nepal, heatwaves in Europe and wildfires in Indonesia.

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham is the only leader from a G7 country scheduled to address the high-level segment on Wednesday and Thursday.

French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi are among the notable absentees.

The absence of major European leaders has drawn criticism from climate campaigners.

"It is a shame that some of the bigger European leaders aren't coming. We need Europe to be showing up strongly at this COP," Cosima Cassel, a climate diplomacy expert at E3G, told AFP.

US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are also absent. Beijing is represented by Vice President Han Zheng, while Washington has sent no officials to the climate talks.

The absence of the two leaders is significant as the United States and China are the world's largest economies and biggest greenhouse gas emitters.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is among the prominent leaders attending the summit, offering some encouragement to climate campaigners.

"We have Lula," Cassel told AFP.

The summit host, Türkiye, is promoting a voluntary initiative to increase electricity's share of global energy consumption to 35 percent by 2035 through the electrification of transport, buildings and industries.

However, progress on the global commitment to move away from fossil fuels remains slow. Countries agreed to transition away from coal, oil and gas at COP28 in 2023 but have struggled to advance the pledge at subsequent climate summits.

BOB Post