COP31 President Kurum Emphasizes Climate Crisis and Action Agenda in Fiji

“IN THE SECOND 10 YEARS, WE ARE ENTERING A PERIOD WHERE WE NO LONGER HAVE TIME LEFT”

Explaining in his speech that they want to draw the world's attention to the fight of the Pacific islands against the climate crisis, COP31 President Kurum said, "The 2nd Pre-COP is being hosted here in Fiji, and in the second 10 years we are entering a period in which we no longer have time. We are talking about the possibility that the people living on these islands may not be able to live in their own homes, in their own cities. We all know the fact that they live in order not to leave the cities where their memories pass. That is why Tuvalu, Fiji, "We hear the voice of the Pacific and I would like to express this here, both on behalf of our Australian friends and on behalf of the COP31 Presidency, that we will fight this fight with all our strength," he said.

Stating that COP31 will be implemented on the basis of dialogue, consensus and action, COP31 President Kurum continued his speech as follows:

"We listen to the needs, try to act with consensus, and with action, we shout to the whole world that talking is over, action and concrete results must be realized. We see the COP31 Action Agenda as a fundamental part of this approach, but of course not as a completed agenda, but as a framework that we will develop together. We have built our action agenda on 10 priority themes, 6 global targets, 11 initiatives and 13 supporting outputs. Our goal is to bring all elements together in a holistic implementation architecture that produces concrete results. "Therefore, we designed our action agenda not as a list of activities, but as a holistic implementation framework that will transform the goals into concrete results."

"WE RECEIVED POSITIVE AND CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK TOWARDS THE ACTION AGENDA"

COP31 President Kurum stated that they have attended many meetings, meetings and international summits so far, and that they officially announced the COP31 Action Agenda in New York, and said, "We have received very positive and constructive feedback from countries, international organizations, financial institutions, private sector and civil society. The message given was extremely clear; 'We should no longer be content with just setting out our goals and commitments, but should focus more on how to realize these goals.' We are celebrating COP31 with this understanding. "In fact, we position it as the implementation COP," he said.

“WE CONSIDE THE THEMES AS A COMPLEMENTARY WHOLE”

COP31 President Kurum then shared the 10 priority themes of the Action Agenda and 6 implementation targets for 2035 with the participants and said, "We have determined our action agenda with 10 priority themes. We consider all themes from energy to industry, from urbanization to food, from oceans to health, as a complementary whole. We see these themes as complementary parts of the climate and development transformation. In order to guide the implementation, we put forward 6 global targets with a 2035 perspective.

We aim to increase the share of electricity in final energy consumption to 35 percent, reduce the projected increase in municipal waste generation by at least half, reduce energy intensity in buildings by 25 percent, and increase the global circular material usage rate to at least 15 percent. For this reason, we aim to expand this mechanism, which we call the Application Bridge, by 2035. This table actually reveals our entire action agenda.

We support our 2035 goals with initiatives, mechanisms, commitments and partnerships that will achieve them. In short, with the COP31 Action Agenda, we are creating an implementation architecture that turns goals into action and action into concrete results."

“OUR PURPOSE IS CLEAR; TO TRANSFORM OUR COMMON GOALS INTO CONCRETE PRACTICE”

Reiterating the call for cooperation to make COP31 successful, COP31 President Kurum concluded his words as follows:

"The aim of our COP31 Action Agenda is clear; to translate our common goals into concrete practice. I invite you to be active partners in this process. Let's move forward with dialogue, become stronger with consensus, and get results with action."

BILATERAL MEETINGS WITH AUSTRALIA AND GERMANY WITHIN THE SCOPE OF PRE-COP

COP31 President Kurum met with Australian Minister of Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen as part of the first day program in Fiji. Posting on his social media account after the meeting where the latest situation in the process leading to Antalya was discussed, COP31 President Kurum said, "I believe that the strong approach that Australia will put forward in the negotiations will contribute to achieving balanced, inclusive and application-oriented results at COP31." The COP31 President later met with Jochen Flasbarth, State Secretary of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. Energy efficiency, circular economy and green industrialization issues were discussed during the meeting.