On the second day of the COP31 Business and Investment Summit held in Antalya under the coordination of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Türkiye (TOBB), the role of the Turkish business world in climate transformation was discussed. In the "Turkish Business World: One Voice for Climate" session moderated by TOBB President and COP31 Business Forum President Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, Turkish Banks Association Chairman Alpaslan Çakar, TÜSİAD President Ozan Diren, TİSK President Özgür Burak Akkol and YASED President Ali Fuat Orhonoğlu came together.
TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu, in his opening speech at the session, drew attention to the critical role of the private sector in achieving climate goals. Stating that the COP31 Business and Investment Summit brought together more than 1,500 participants from more than 55 countries, Hisarcıklıoğlu emphasized that they had a historic meeting in terms of stronger representation of the global business world on the COP agenda. Emphasizing that green transformation is no longer a choice for the Turkish business world, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, "Governments set goals. The business world makes the investments. Climate targets are achieved in factories, fields and construction sites, not in negotiation halls."
Stating that climate transformation directly affects all areas of the economy, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, "This is no longer just an environmental issue. It is a competition issue. It is an export issue. It is a financing issue. It is an employment issue. The rules are changing. The markets are changing. Those who keep up with the change will win."
Stating that the Turkish private sector fully supports the COP31 Action Agenda, Hisarcıklıoğlu underlined their support for the 35 percent electrification target by 2035 and the BRIDGE initiative. Emphasizing that private sector investments are indispensable in achieving climate targets, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, "Public resources alone are not enough for this. This bridge cannot be built without private sector investment." Stating that the transformation should be turned into an opportunity for SMEs, Hisarcıklıoğlu called for no sector to be left behind in this field.
In the session moderated by Hisarcıklıoğlu, President of the Banks Association of Türkiye, Alpaslan Çakar, drew attention to the role of the banking sector in financing the green transformation and emphasized the importance of mobilizing international resources and public-private sector cooperation. Çakar said, "Banking and the real sector are like two wings of a plane that complement each other. It is no longer how much we produce, but how efficiently and cleanly we produce, and to which markets we sell with what added value. As the Turkish banking sector, we are ready for this transformation with our strong capital structure and our capacity to find resources from abroad."
Ozan Diren, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Turkish Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association (TÜSİAD), said, "Sustainability has always been the priority issue of TÜSİAD. As a business organization that has been contributing to the UN climate processes since 2008, we are on the field at COP31 with all our strength. We are pleased to be an active stakeholder of the COP31 Business Forum studies organized by TOBB in this process. We see green transformation as the only way to build tomorrow's competitive power while preserving today's production power. "As we move from the commitment period to the implementation period, we see the most urgent issues as value chain financing, clean energy-based electrification and circular industry, climate-friendly artificial intelligence and clean technologies, transformation of our human resources with green skills, and water and agriculture-food security," he said.
Özgür Burak Akkol, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Confederation of Employer Associations of Turkey (TİSK), stated that the main factor affected by the transformation processes caused by climate change is humans, and that they have focused on the triple transformation. Akkol said, "We believe that we will create benefits by looking at this transformation in an action and project-oriented manner. In this context, we guide our industrialists to produce projects and support their transformation. As TİSK, we prioritize the competence transformation by taking the necessary concrete steps to ensure a just transition. We have full faith in our country, our industrialists, our youth and our potential."
Ali Fuat Orhonoğlu, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the International Investors Association (YASED), said, "It is important that we come together here today, at the COP31 week, which determines the world's climate agenda, hosted by Türkiye. As YASED, we carry the voice of international investors operating in our country, we see this clearly: Green and digital transformation is no longer a cost item, but competitiveness itself. Compliance with carbon regulations in Europe, access to clean energy and a transparent, stable investment environment will make Türkiye an indispensable part of global supply chains. This transformation will make Turkey an indispensable part of global supply chains. "If we manage the public, private sector and international investors with common sense, we will remember COP31 not as a summit, but as the declaration that Türkiye is a permanent center for new generation investments," he said.
At the end of the session, an important step towards the BRIDGE (Climate Implementation Bridge) initiative launched during Türkiye's COP31 term presidency was announced. Within the scope of the initiative, which aims to transform countries' climate priorities into concrete projects by bringing them together with financing and investments, Limak Chairman Ebru Özdemir was appointed as the BRIDGE Private Sector Representative on behalf of the COP31 Business Forum and the Turkish private sector.
