The Hatay Declaration on Climate-Resilient and Sustainable Cities

COP31 Presidency | 8–9 May 2026, Hatay

We, ministers and high-level representatives, convened in Hatay, Türkiye, at the international event “Türkiye’s Road to COP31: Resilient Cities,” recognize that cities are at the forefront of the climate crisis and central to delivering both climate action and sustainable urban development.

Recalling the devastating earthquakes of February 2023 in Türkiye, we emphasize that post-disaster recovery must go beyond rebuilding and serve as a transformative opportunity to develop resilient, low-carbon, inclusive, and sustainable cities.

We underline that the global challenge is no longer the absence of policy frameworks, but the need to accelerate implementation at scale. Cities are the primary platforms where global commitments must be translated into concrete action.

We commit to:

• Advancing climate-resilient urban transformation and access to adequate housing — integrating adaptation, disaster risk reduction, demographic resilience and sustainability into all stages of planning and reconstruction.
• Strengthening multi-level and data-driven governance, empowering local authorities as key actors of implementation.
• Scaling up financing for resilient and sustainable cities, including climate finance, blended finance, and public–private partnerships.
• Accelerating urban energy transition and low-carbon development, including energy efficiency, renewable energy integration, and sustainable mobility.
• Promoting nature-based solutions and inclusive, people-centred approaches that combine demographic resilience with climate resilience, in line with the principle of leaving no one behind.

We emphasize the importance of strengthening linkages between two global processes:

• COP31 as a platform for advancing climate commitments and mobilizing action;
• WUF13 as a platform for dialogue, knowledge exchange, and shaping urban agendas.

We will work towards translating COP31 outcomes into city-level implementation pathways and promoting the sharing and scaling of successful practices through WUF13.

We further express our shared intention to strengthen international cooperation and partnerships among governments, international organizations, financial institutions, local authorities, and stakeholders to accelerate progress.

We will carry forward the principles of this declaration at WUF13 in Baku (2026) and present it as an input to COP31 in Antalya (2026).

The Hatay Declaration reflects our shared determination to move:

• from policy to implementation,
• from recovery to transformation,
• and from global commitments to local action.