Four days remain until the 31st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP31), which will be held in Antalya from November 9 to 20 under Türkiye’s hosting. Preparations have been completed ahead of the summit, which will be held in Türkiye for the first time, while messages of international support for Türkiye’s COP presidency have arrived one after another. Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar also announced the electrification target Türkiye will present to the global public at COP31.
A countdown video posted on COP31 Türkiye’s official account said: "Air, water, fire, soil. They are all at their best when they are in balance. When the balance of our planet is disrupted, our shared future is directly affected. Only four days remain to protect the balance and take concrete steps."
"35% electrification by 2035"
Minister Bayraktar shared a significant target regarding COP31 at the launch of the "National Energy 2040" program held at the Presidential Dolmabahçe Working Office in Istanbul. Bayraktar said, "The target Türkiye will present to the global public at COP31 is 35% electrification by 2035. Türkiye is advancing toward this target through a firmly grounded program. We want to bring Türkiye to 36% electrification in 2040."
Bayraktar said, "As we move toward energy independence, we will move toward a world with more electricity in every area of Türkiye’s economy," adding that investments in energy efficiency and electrification would increase more than ever and that $15 billion in annual investment was needed. Bayraktar had also previously announced that Türkiye would share at COP31 its road map aimed at meeting approximately 70% of the country’s energy needs from renewable sources by 2040. Raising the global electrification rate to 35% by 2035 is among the prominent priorities of the COP31 Action Agenda.
"Türkiye’s diplomatic influence can have a major impact"
Laurence Tubiana, president of the European Climate Foundation and one of the architects of the Paris Climate Agreement, highlighted Türkiye’s role in the COP31 presidency in an assessment to an Anadolu Agency correspondent. Tubiana said, "I think the political weight Türkiye possesses and can use is particularly important in building bridges between different parties. Türkiye has its own distinctive diplomacy and its own distinctive role. I think this role is very useful at present, and we need countries to undertake this task." Tubiana stressed that Türkiye’s assessment as COP31 president and the messages it delivers could have a major impact.
Stating that the supply disruption in the Strait of Hormuz showed that energy security could not be ensured through fossil fuels, Tubiana said Antalya could be a turning point for confronting the realities. Describing Türkiye’s promotion of global electrification as an important step, Tubiana said Türkiye had a dynamic and strong renewable energy sector.
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) President Odile Renaud-Basso said the focus at COP31 would be on implementing commitments, adding that Türkiye was highly successful in bringing together different perspectives and conducting negotiations. Renaud-Basso recalled that they were the largest institutional investor in Türkiye and said they had invested 2.5 billion euros so far this year, expected to exceed last year’s level of 2.7 billion euros by the end of the year, with 1.7 billion euros already allocated to green projects. Renaud-Basso also said that approximately 380 million euros had been invested under the Türkiye Industrial Decarbonization Investment Platform, launched for the first time in Türkiye.
European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde stressed that COP31 in Antalya offered a major opportunity to turn global targets into action. Diarmid Campbell-Lendrum, head of the Climate Change, Energy and Air Quality Unit at the World Health Organization (WHO), said, "Türkiye has become one of the leaders of the health agenda within the COP negotiations. Indeed, Türkiye has made climate-resilient and dynamic health systems one of the 10 priorities it has set for COP31. We see this as concrete progress." A comprehensive "health day" will be held on the summit’s first day, and WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus will also attend the event.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) also called on world leaders gathering at COP31 to urgently increase investments to protect communities from the growing humanitarian impacts of climate change. According to an analysis by the IFRC and WWF, nature-based solutions can reduce the severity of climate-related hazards by an average of 31% and help developing countries prevent at least $148 billion in annual economic losses by 2030.
A "phoenix" from earthquake rubble
The vision of climate-resilient cities, one of the 10 priority areas of the COP31 Action Agenda, will be represented at the summit venue by a concrete work. Under the Rural Areas Earthquake Recovery and Reconstruction Project (KADİYAP), a 140-square-meter "phoenix" structure was built in the Green Zone using earthquake rubble collected in Hatay. The 54-ton structure was raised by a tracked robot in only seven days using 3D concrete-printing technology without molds; 60% of the structure was made from earthquake rubble, while the honeycomb-patterned panels on the roof were produced from waste plastic.
COP31 President and Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Murat Kurum said, "Türkiye’s vision of resilient cities will inspire the world at COP31. At the summit, we will also tell the world about the construction mobilization of the century and share the story of our 11 cities, which were reborn from their ashes like a phoenix and symbolize solidarity and resilience."
The Selçuklu Municipality also established the 2,600-square-meter "Konya Tropical Butterfly Garden" at the summit venue. Sharing images of the garden, which contains 20,000 butterflies from 10 species, Minister Kurum said, "The colors of nature are also at COP31. With our Tropical Butterfly Garden at the COP31 venue, we are spreading our wings toward a green future." Nearly 100,000 visitors, along with country delegations, are expected in the 527,000-square-meter Blue Zone, where climate negotiations will be held.
