BELÉM, Brazil — Germany is scrambling to solve a diplomatic dispute between Australia and Turkey for fear it becomes the default host of next year’s U.N. climate talks.
Turkey and Australia remain deadlocked, with both adamant they want to host the annual conference in 2026.
Intense diplomacy is happening on the margins of this year’s edition, a two-week summit that began Monday in Brazil. If no resolution is found, Germany, as host of the U.N. climate organization, is obligated to step in under the rules of the treaty.
“We would have to, but we do not want to,” said German State Secretary in the Environment Ministry Jochen Flasbarth on Monday. He said preparing a host site within 12 months of the talks would stretch Germany’s rigid bureaucracy.
