'Olympics of global conferences': South Australia vies to host key UN climate summit

South Australia has entered the running to host the annual United Nations Climate Summit.

COP31 would bring tens of thousands of delegates to the state, including world leaders, as well as half a billion dollars to the local economy, and would be the largest and highest-profile international conference Australia has ever hosted.

"This is the Olympics of global conferences, this is the one you want to shoot for," Premier Peter Malinauskas said.

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COP, or the Conference of the Parties, is the United Nations' annual summit on climate change. 

Australia has been shortlisted as one of the finalists to host the 2026 summit.

"The COP conference is all about the need to decarbonise, but how to do it in such a way to bring people and an economy with you... and South Australia is leading that charge," Malinauskas said.

Each summit has at least 40,000 delegates – 80,000 turned up for the recent COP in Dubai.

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If Australia is chosen as host, Adelaide has to beat out the bigger eastern states' cities.

The state government's proposal includes a promise South Australia could provide enough accommodation and could cope with the need for intense security.

Extinction Rebellion, which was again rallying in Adelaide today outside an Australian gas convention, would be likely to be joined by climate activists from all over the world, who have slammed previous events for not bringing real change.

A decision on the host city for November 2026 is expected next month.

This article was produced with the assistance of 9ExPress.