The UN Climate Change Conference COP31 opened in Türkiye on 9 November. This year, the organisers want to make it a platform for preparing concrete climate measures instead of yet another round of declared commitments. The focus is primarily on global electrification and unlocking investment for environmental projects.
This was stated by this year's COP31 President, Türkiye's Minister of Environment Murat Kurum, in his speech at the opening of the Conference.
A crisis that knows no borders
According to Kurum, every crisis aggravates the others, so climate problems cannot be considered in isolation. The world is becoming hotter, more climatically unstable and more vulnerable to natural disasters. And all this is happening against a backdrop of geopolitical tensions, economic challenges, threats to food security and rapid technological change.
"Climate impacts cross borders and sectors, and drought, floods, water scarcity and extreme heat affect food production, supply chains, economies, migration, cities and human health. A drought in one part of the world is felt at the dinner table in another," he noted.
From talk to real action
The COP31 President called for this year's climate conference to become "the COP of implementation". In his view, it is finally time to close the gap between slogans and real practical change that people around the world will feel. This covers a wide range of measures, from more resilient urban infrastructure and agricultural productivity to cleaner industrial production.
At the same time, the Paris Agreement goal of limiting the temperature rise to 1.5°C remains the key climate benchmark. A World Meteorological Organization report shows that the last 12 years have been the warmest on record, so the world must work actively to implement practical solutions and overcome obstacles in tackling climate change.
The main tools are electrification and money
One of the main steps of the green transition is global electrification. This process is reinforced by the development of renewable generation and energy storage systems, clean transport and energy efficiency.
"The outcomes of international climate negotiations must become visible in people's everyday lives: in buildings that consume less energy, in clean public transport, in energy they can afford and in new jobs," Murat Kurum stressed.
Another aspect is delivering on climate finance commitments. In Baku, it was agreed to direct at least $300 billion to such projects in developing countries by 2035. Another component of this financial goal is to allocate at least $1.3 trillion a year for climate action.
"This is about unlocking finance and investment, accelerating electrification and stepping up action on the ocean, the largest natural regulator of the climate. COP31 must help close the gap between commitments and their outcomes, and focus on real results: investment, infrastructure, jobs, energy security and resilient communities," the COP31 President remarked.
It was concrete solutions that made countries more resilient to this year's crisis linked to rising fossil fuel prices caused by the war in Iran. According to UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell, renewables have helped the world save $265 billion.
As a reminder, Ukraine will hold more than 70 events at COP31. Key topics include the impact of war on the environment, the search for green investment, green reconstruction and demonstrating real climate efforts in unison with the rest of the world.
