COP31 is fast approaching, and preparations are well underway. CLC's annual pre-COP webinar once again offered great insights into the priorities of Nordic and European negotiators and Nordic companies as well as what to expect from this year's climate conference.
What does it mean that COP31 is an "implementation COP"?
Although implementation has long been part of the language of UN climate negotiations, COP31 has been particularly framed as an implementation COP with the aim of turning commitments into actions.
According to Dimitrios Zevgolis, one of the European Union's lead negotiators to the UNFCCC, an increasingly visible part of the COP process is the role of businesses, cities, regions and citizens in delivering climate action on the ground. These real-economy initiatives are no longer separate from the negotiations. Instead, they are becoming an increasingly important part of the broader climate process.
Zevgolis described COPs as a "push-and-pull" system. Negotiated outcomes send signals about governments' commitments and policy direction, while implementation in the real economy demonstrates what is possible, helping to build confidence and encourage greater ambition from governments.
This dynamic is also reflected in the growing importance of the COP Action Agenda, which highlights practical climate solutions and progress beyond the negotiation rooms. This year, business engagement will be further strengthened through the Business and Investment Forum at the start of the conference.
Finland's lead negotiator the UNFCCC, Marjo Nummelin, noted that discussions on COP outcomes often draw too sharp a distinction between negotiated decisions and real-world action. In practice, both are integral and complementary parts of the same process.
Electrification emerges as a central theme
Among the substantive topics expected to dominate COP31, electrification stands out as one of the clearest priorities.
For policymakers, electrification is a critical pathway for reducing emissions. Fortum's Tomas Qvickström noted that for businesses, it is also increasingly viewed as a competitiveness and resilience issue. Both negotiators and companies are hoping to see concrete progress on the topic during the conference.
From a business perspective, an implementation-focused COP is ultimately about creating the conditions needed to deploy clean technologies at scale.
As Sofia Svingby of AFRY pointed out, technology is often not the main bottleneck. Many of the solutions required for decarbonisation already exist. The challenge is creating the enabling environment needed for their widespread deployment. That environment requires three elements to come together: sufficient demand, supporting infrastructure such as grids and storage, and long-term policy predictability that gives companies and investors confidence to act.
Overshoot report adds urgency to the negotiations
COP31 will take place against the backdrop of a recent UNEP report warning that global warming is likely to temporarily exceed the Paris agreement 1.5°C threshold, increasing climate risks and impacts. The challenge now is to limit both the extent and duration of that overshoot.
This makes mitigation a central focus for the conference. Nordic and European negotiators are seeking a strong signal from COP31 that governments remain committed to accelerating emissions reductions and therefore limiting the overshoot. The discussions are particularly significant as preparations are already underway for the next Global Stocktake in 2028, with COP31 and COP32 expected to feed into this process.
Progress over breakthroughs
While the speakers agreed that COP31 is unlikely to be a milestone conference, they also expressed confidence in the resilience of the multilateral climate system.
Marianne Karlsen, Norway's lead negotiator the UNFCCC, noted that countries continue to engage constructively in the UN climate process despite geopolitical tensions. This, she argued, demonstrates the robustness of the UNFCCC framework.
For Zevgolis, the value of the COP process is not in producing sudden breakthroughs but in sustaining gradual progress. As he noted, success should be measured not by dramatic turning points but by the ability to move the needle forward year after year.
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