ANTALYA: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will head to Antalya, the site of the UN’s COP31 climate talks, on Tuesday after celebrating the discovery of new oil fields. Erdogan is expected in the Mediterranean city on the eve of two days of speeches by heads of state and government at the annual summit, where nations are under pressure to do more to tackle climate change. On Monday, the Turkish leader hailed the discovery of two oil fields in the Gabar mountain region — potentially containing 135 million barrels of crude — as “good news.” Production in the southeast region will exceed 100,000 barrels per day by the second half of 2027, he said on X. The future of oil, gas and coal, the main drivers of climate change, is a hotly debated issue at UN climate negotiations. COP31 host Turkiye and Australia, which is leading negotiations at this year’s talks, are promoting a voluntary pledge to raise the share of global energy demand met by electricity from around 20 percent today to 35 percent by 2035. Their initiative lacks any mention of fossil fuels. COP31 started Monday and runs until November 20. It is not the first time that a host country’s leader celebrates hydrocarbons during UN climate talks. Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev Ilham Aliyev opened the CO29 conference in Baku in 2024 by hailing fossil fuels as a “gift of God.”