Türkiye hosts more than 100 leaders to build momentum on electrification and waste

TÜRKİYE HOSTS MORE THAN 100 LEADERS TO BUILD MOMENTUM ON ELECTRIFICATION AND WASTE

• His Excellency Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, President of the Republic of Türkiye, issues call to action alongside His Excellency António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations and over 100 national leaders.
• President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan: “This culture, which considers bread as fertility, water as holy, and a tree as life, serves as our compass in our environmental and climate policies.”
• Her Excellency Emine Erdoğan, First Lady of the Republic of Türkiye, speaks at leader-level event to build political momentum on combatting waste.
• COP31 Presidency hosts leader-level event on electrification to build political momentum on key COP31 priority.
• COP31 Presidency launches Circularity Knowledge Sharing Network.

ANTALYA, Nov 11: The first day of the COP31 Leaders’ Summit saw countries build political momentum on electrification, responding to the COP31 Presidency’s calls to action on this key priority. More than 100 national leaders and the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, gathered in the coastal city of Antalya to send a clear message that they remain committed to tackling climate change.

Addressing world leaders, His Excellency Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, President of the Republic of Türkiye, said “Respect for nature lies at the heart of our civilization. Earth is a sacred trust that must be protected and cared for… This culture, which considers bread as fertility, water as holy, and a tree as life, serves as our compass in our environmental and climate policies.”

“This is how we as Türkiye approach the issue. Properly fulfilling our responsibilities in the fight against climate change, we are working to become a part of the solution rather than the problem.”

Following this, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan hosted a leader-level event on electrification, attended by the UN Secretary-General António Guterres. The event aimed to build political momentum on electrification and discuss the opportunities and barriers to progress. Türkiye led by example by publishing its own National Energy Plan earlier this month.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan today highlighted Türkiye’s own decarbonisation journey, saying: “From energy to industry, and transport to agriculture, we are guided by green transition across all the sectors in our economy, restructuring them with the aim of decarbonization. We are increasing our renewable energy investments, boosting energy efficiency, and promoting clean transport solutions.”

COP31 President Murat Kurum said: “There is much common ground between climate action and the national interest. Using energy more efficiently makes energy supplies more secure. Investing in water strengthens food security. Clean technologies create opportunities for industry and employment. Resilient cities strengthen our economies. Well-designed climate action is an investment in prosperity, security and competitiveness.”

The COP31 Presidency also hosted a leader-level event on advancing Green Industrialisation, as well as building political support for the Antalya Green Industrialization Compact. With industry accounting for around a quarter of direct global CO2 emissions, the Compact plays an important role in accelerating investment in and creating markets for near-zero and low-emissions industrial production. The Compact supports the COP31 Presidency’s targets on electrification and circularity, with the electrification of industrial processes and the increasing use of circular materials both acting as key mechanisms for decarbonizing industry.

At the Summit, Her Excellency Emine Erdoğan, First Lady of the Republic of Türkiye, spoke at a leader-level event on Zero Waste, designed to strengthen political support for reducing the projected growth in global municipal solid waste generation by at least 50% by 2035 and raising the global circular material use rate to at least 15%. The waste sector accounts for around 20% of human-caused methane emissions - a greenhouse gas 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide in terms of atmospheric warming.

Zero Waste is a thematic priority for the COP31 Presidency, and on the opening day of COP, the COP31 High-Level Champion launched the #OneBillion Challenge, which aims to mobilize people and organisations to reduce food waste. The challenge, supported by the Zero Waste Foundation, brings together households, businesses, cities, organisations and communities to mobilise action, showcase solutions, and share results and lessons learned.

Alongside this, the COP31 Presidency hosted a Global High-Level Dialogue on Methane Emissions from the Waste Sector to help identify policies and projects that can drive forward methane reduction. In the morning, the COP31 Presidency also launched the Circularity Knowledge Sharing Network, which will accelerate the integration of circular economy approaches into climate policy and help successful solutions get adopted and scaled. At both of these events, the COP31 Presidency issued a voluntary call to urge attendees to reaffirm their commitment and take practical action to progress these issues.

Notes to editors

• COP31 is the 31st Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and takes place in Antalya, Türkiye, from 9–20 November 2026
• For more information regarding the COP31 Presidency and requests to be added to the media list, please contact COP31 Presidency at media@cop31.tr
• For more information regarding the COP31 President of Negotiations and requests to be added to the media list, please contact: COP31mediaoperations@dcceew.gov.au
• For more information regarding UN Climate, please contact the UNFCCC at press@unfccc.int
• For official photography from COP31 Presidency events and activities, visit the COP31 Flickr
• For official photography from all other COP31 events and activities, visit the UNFCCC Flickr
• Latest updates from the COP31 Presidency can be found here: COP31 Türkiye Antalya 2026 UN Climate Change Conference
• Latest updates from the COP31 President of Negotiations can be found here: COP31 | Australia-Pacific Partnership for COP31
• The activities at COP31 and speech of His Excellency Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, President of the Republic of Türkiye, can be found on the website of the Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye, and the website of the Directorate of Communications for the Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye