Türkiye is hosting the Conference of the Parties (COP) for the first time, which includes 196 countries party to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the European Union. COP31, organized under the chairmanship of Murat Kurum, Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, upon the decision of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, will last 12 days in Antalya.
The opening of the General Assembly held in the Anatolia Hall in the Blue Area was attended by COP31 President and Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Murat Kurum, COP30 President Andre Correa do Lago, Chairman of Negotiations and Australian Minister of Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) President Jim Skea, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Executive Secretary Simon Stiell and representatives of 196 countries and the European Union (EU). delegates attended.
COP31 PRESIDENT INSTITUTION TOOK OVER THE UN CLIMATE SUMMIT PRESIDENTIAL gavel
The program started with the opening speech of Andre Correa do Lago, President of last year's Conference of the Parties, COP30. COP31 President and Head of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, Murat Kurum, took over the presidential gavel from Andre Correa do Lago, President of the previous Conference of the Parties, COP30, for the world's most important climate summit. Thus, Turkey's one-year presidency of the Conference of the Parties (COP), which includes 196 countries party to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the European Union, officially began.
“FACED BY US IS A WORLD THAT IS CHANGING RAPIDLY AND FIGHTING MANY CHALLENGES”
COP31 President Kurum, who then made the opening speech, said that the world is facing multi-dimensional challenges from wars to economic crises, from technological transformation to climate change:
We are faced with a rapidly changing world that is struggling with many challenges at the same time. Wars and geopolitical tensions continue; A world where trade routes, energy lines and supply chains are being reshaped.
Economic uncertainties, debt burden and high cost of living touch the daily lives of millions of people; A world where hundreds of millions of people have difficulty accessing food. Technology and artificial intelligence are advancing at a dizzying pace; On the other hand, it is a world where great distances continue in access to capital, information and technology. And above all this; A world that is hotter, more fragile, and prone to disasters.
“THE WORLD IS TELLING US SOMETHING VERY CLEAR: WE ARE AT POINT ZERO”
Pointing out that the climate crisis does not respect time and boundaries, Minister Kurum said, "The history of the drought that begins in one place is written on the table in another. A river overflowing in one region changes the production schedule of factories thousands of kilometers away."
Decreasing water in a country has consequences for the economy, migration movements and security of other societies. Extreme heat puts a strain on cities, agriculture and human health at the same time. The world is telling us something clear: We are at ground zero. That's why we're out of words in today's world. We have to act with this awareness. Because climate policy is also development policy. It is food policy. It is energy policy. It is city policy. "And above all, it is the policy of protecting the future of people," he said.
“A COMMON CALENDAR BRINGS A COMMON RESPONSIBILITY”
Underlining that the whole world is meeting in Antalya for the solution of these crises, Minister Kurum said, "This is exactly why we are in Antalya. In an age where crises magnify each other, we are here to establish solutions in a way that strengthens each other."
Our geographies may be different. Our conditions, opportunities and priorities may be different. But the world's climate calendar is common. A common calendar brings a shared responsibility. This is the call of Antalya; To expand dialogue in a period of increasing division, to rebuild trust in a period when trust is tested, to mobilize opportunities in a period of growing need, to close the gap between promises and people's lives. "We want to make COP31 the Implementation COP for this," he said.
“Türkiye IS READY TO ASSUME RESPONSIBILITY”
The institution underlined that the COP31 Presidency aims to facilitate access to finance: There is a distance between those who have access to finance and those who cannot. There is a distance between those who have technology and those who need it.
There is a distance between countries with strong resilience capacity and fragile societies. The big task of climate diplomacy is to reduce these distances. Türkiye has been a bridge throughout history. Now, under the leadership of our President, Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, it is ready to take responsibility to bring together the expectations of the North and the South, developed countries and developing countries on a common ground. Along with Australia; It is ready to hear the voice of the Pacific and find solutions to the problems of fragile countries.
“RESILIENCE INVESTMENT DELAYED TODAY MAY TURN INTO THE COST OF DISASTER TOMORROW”
Minister Kurum stated that the decisions and commitments taken so far to combat climate change should be implemented as soon as possible: We know that; One of the most expensive costs of climate action is delay. Resilience investment postponed today may turn into tomorrow's disaster cost. Adaptation financing that is not received today may aggravate that humanitarian crisis tomorrow.
That's why we have to bring the cost of the future to today's decisions. The 1.5 degree target continues to show our way. We will talk openly about the facts revealed by science. We will bring the voices of the most vulnerable countries and communities to the center of our agenda. And the real life of the decisions we made in Antalya will begin after these halls are opened.
“LET'S TRANSFORM WORDS INTO RESULTS, LET'S TRANSFORM DECISIONS INTO INVESTMENT”
COP31 President Kurum called for a common struggle for the common future of the world:
From here, I call on all countries, peoples and young people: Let's establish a historical cooperation together in Antalya. Let's turn words into results. Let's turn decisions into investments. Let's put knowledge into action. A decision must live in the infrastructure of a city.
He must live on a farmer's land. He must live on the production line of a factory. It should live in the improvement in a family's energy bill. Because the real value of a decision is revealed when it touches human life. Noting that the COP31 process was built on 3 core values, Minister Kurum said, "There are three concepts at the center of our COP31 Presidency approach: Dialogue, consensus, action. First, we will listen to each other. Then, we will expand the common ground. Then, we will carry that common will to the field.
“ZERO WASTE MOVEMENT; "IT MAKES PROTECTING RESOURCES AND REDUCING WASTE A PART OF DAILY LIFE"
Drawing attention to the importance of the Zero Waste approach in the fight against Climate Change, Minister Kurum emphasized that it is one of the most important topics of the COP31 Action Agenda: Zero Waste Movement under the leadership of First Lady Emine Erdoğan; It makes protecting resources, reducing waste, and increasing efficiency a part of daily life.
We see our children and youth as the strongest carriers of this transformation. Young people are the subject of this work. Because a habit acquired today turns into the culture of tomorrow.
We take the same approach to energy transformation. With our 35 by 35 Global Electrification Commitment, we have set the goal of increasing the share of electricity in final energy consumption to 35 percent by 2035. We see renewable energy, strong networks, storage capacity, energy efficiency, clean transportation and green industry as complementary parts of this transformation. The results of the climate talks in people's daily lives; We want to see new job opportunities. Of course, all this requires a strong financing architecture.
“THE INVISIBLE INFRASTRUCTURE OF GLOBAL COOPERATION IS TRUST”
In his speech, COP31 President Kurum listed the priority topics of the COP31 Action Agenda: In addition to financing, we need another infrastructure: Trust. Because trust is also a climate infrastructure. For a country to see the value of its promises, to access the resources it needs, to receive the promised financing on time, and to believe that the decisions taken will be implemented. This is the invisible infrastructure of global cooperation. In Baku, an agreement was reached on an annual climate finance target of at least 300 billion dollars for developing countries by 2035.
A call was made to increase public and private sector resources to at least 1.3 trillion dollars annually. Now is the time for words to turn into capital, capital to investment, investment to results. When we look at the needs map of the world today, we see a picture.
When we look at the map of capital, technology, knowledge and expertise, we see a different picture. We want to overlap these two maps. With the project seeking financing, we will bring together investors, countries in need of technology and solution owners, local needs and global capacity. It's called the Climate Application Bridge. We will carry the purpose, the opportunity where there is need, and the responsibility where there is opportunity.
“WE WANT TO LEAVE ANTALYA WITH A WORK CULTURE, NOT A LIST OF DECISIONS”
Minister Kurum explained the importance of the decisions that will emerge at the end of the COP31 Summit with the following words:
We do not want to leave a list of decisions from Antalya. We want to leave a work culture. Countries that listen to each other, institutions that trust each other, scientists who share their knowledge, entrepreneurs who develop solutions, companies that take responsibility, financial institutions that mobilize their resources. In Belém, Brazil told us about the 'muçiaro' spirit. In our culture, this has a strong equivalent that has been around for centuries: imece. Imece means that everyone takes responsibility where one person is unable to do so. Imece means sharing hope as well as sharing the burden.
This is exactly what the world needs today. We need the knowledge of every country, the experience of every society, the energy of every generation, the capacity of every institution. And we want that when Antalya is remembered years later, it will be talked about what works were started before what sentences were made here. Let us remember which investments have taken action, which technologies have crossed borders, which cities have gained resilience, which child looks to the future with more confidence.
May Antalya's legacy be greater than our words. An Antalya that reduces invisible distances, an Antalya that brings together need and opportunity, an Antalya that replaces delay with action, an Antalya that brings climate action to people's lives. With the spirit of imece; Let's pave the way together, from dialogue to consensus, from action to practice, from practice to people's lives. Because the strongest message we will give here today is this: If the world will share a common future, it will also bear the responsibility of that future together.
FAMOUS NAMES ALSO ATTENDED THE CEREMONY
Actors Ozan Akbaba, Sinem Özenç Ünsal, Dilin Döğer, Atakan Özkaya, Şükrü Özyıldız, Zuhal Topal Saygıner, Süreyya Akın Akınözü, Selim Bayraktar, Taner Ölmez, Cengiz Bozkurt, Erman Burak Yörük, content producer Ali Abdüsselam Yılmaz and free diving world record holder national athlete Şahika Ercümen were also present at the opening.
