This year’s United Nations climate summit will prioritise implementing the decisions made at previous summits, with financing as the main focus, Türkiye’s Environment and Climate Change Minister Murat Kurum told Reuters over the weekend, as the country prepares to host and chair COP31 in November.
Kurum, who will serve as the president of the COP31 summit, said that financing will be at the forefront of the agenda, citing nearly $1 trillion needed for developing countries to meet climate targets. Kurum added that raising public awareness about climate policies is essential at a time when wars and security crises dominate global agendas.
Türkiye will urge every nation to consider the “big picture” and the pressing threats posed by climate change, Kurum said.
“Important decisions have been taken in every COP so far. We will follow up on these decisions, but what is essential is putting them into practice. The expectation of the world, of humanity from us is to move to practice,” Kurum told Reuters at a diplomacy forum in Antalya this past weekend (17-19 April).
“Let’s take steps to realise the NDCs that countries have put forth - and there are some countries who have not put them forward,” Kurum said, referring to the nationally determined contributions (NDCs) that countries submit as part of their climate commitments under the Paris Agreement.
During the interview, Kurum called on countries that have not yet submitted their NDCs to do so before COP31.
The annual COP conference is the main global forum for coordinating international action on climate change. It is based on the broad scientific consensus that climate change is driven by human activity, primarily greenhouse gas emissions from burning coal, oil, and gas.
Kurum says Türkiye wants COP31 to be “the COP of implementation”, prioritising action over empty promises.
“We want all countries to hand in their NDCs by COP31. We are working for this, we are also working for this within the U.N.,” he said to Reuters. Kurum also pointed to the need for funding to help developing countries both prepare and meet their climate commitments.
One of the main criticisms of last year’s COP was the lack of firm commitment on moving away from fossil fuels.
Regarding how these issues will be rectified at COP31, Kurum said that Türkiye plans to push countries to implement decisions made at COP30.
Kurum said Türkiye currently uses fossil fuels alongside renewable energy to maintain self-sufficiency, but would shift towards more affordable energy sources if technological developments permitted the transition.
“We must bring moving away from fossil fuels to the global agenda by providing a transition period. During COP31, we will put into effect those partial decisions taken in COP30.”
Source: commonspace.eu with Reuters
