Antalya, 9 November 2026. The Think Negative pavilion is now open in the Blue Zone at COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye. The Negative Emissions Platform (NEP) is hosting it on behalf of the Think Negative Coalition. Until 18 November, the pavilion will run 43 sessions on how governments and industry can scale up credible carbon removal alongside deep emissions cuts.
The programme comes as the UN Environment Programme warns that global warming is set to go past 1.5°C. Its 2026 Emissions Gap Report estimates that bringing temperatures back to that level by 2100 could mean removing and permanently storing around 320 billion tonnes of CO₂ this century, on top of exceptionally deep emissions cuts. Today, newer removal methods take out only about two million tonnes a year worldwide.
The sessions bring together governments, industry, finance and scientists. They cover how to finance and build large removal plants, what the mining sector can contribute, how countries count removals in their national greenhouse gas inventories, and how developing economies can attract investment and build their own carbon removal industries.
Türkiye has made green industrialisation, Zero Waste and resilient cities its priorities for COP31. Carbon removal fits naturally into all three. Agricultural waste can be turned into biochar that stores carbon, and suitable industrial minerals and demolished concrete can be used to lock away CO₂.
At COP30, countries set up a Plan to Accelerate Carbon Dioxide Removal within the Global Climate Action Agenda. Think Negative wants COP31 to build on that by bringing removal into the existing initiatives on industry, waste and construction, rather than creating another standalone programme.
For COP31 and the year ahead, the coalition is calling for:
high-integrity carbon removal to be recognised in COP31’s final Action Agenda outcomes
an Antalya Call to Accelerate CDR, backed by governments and international organisations
practical commitments for 2027 to bring removal into industry, construction and waste
a clearer place for durable removal in national climate plans, domestic carbon markets and international carbon trading
carbon removal to be a priority at COP32 in Ethiopia, with measurable progress
“For a long time, carbon removal sat on the edge of these talks. That’s starting to change, and governments are beginning to see it as part of how they reach their climate goals rather than an afterthought. What we need now is speed. The next twelve months have to be a year of action, so that Addis Ababa becomes the finish line for real progress and not the place where we start talking about it all over again”
Chris Sherwood, Secretary-General, Negative Emissions Platform
Carbon removal has to complement deep emissions cuts, never replace them. Credible projects must show net removal of CO₂ from the atmosphere, durable storage and robust independent verification, with proper environmental and social safeguards.
The full programme is available at think-negative.org/en.
