COP31’s High-Level Climate Champion Promises “Everyone’s COP” as 100,000+ Expected in Antalya

ISTANBUL, Türkiye — COP31 climate champion Samed Ağırbaş has promised that this year’s UN climate summit will be “everyone’s COP” — a conference where action replaces new pledges — as Türkiye prepares to welcome more than 100,000 people from 197 countries to Antalya next month.

Ağırbaş, who also heads Türkiye’s Zero Waste Foundation (Sıfır Atık Vakfı), made the remarks at a private-sector event in Türkiye titled “Toward COP31: The Role of the Private Sector in the Climate Action Agenda,” organized by the foundation together with the UN in Türkiye and the UN Global Compact Türkiye, according to Anadolu Agency.

FAKTA

• Samed Ağırbaş, president of Türkiye’s Zero Waste Foundation, is COP31’s High-Level Climate Champion, appointed by COP31 President-designate Murat Kurum in January 2026.
• Türkiye expects more than 100,000 people from 197 countries at COP31 in Antalya from 9 to 20 November 2026 — what Ağırbaş calls the largest international gathering the country has hosted since the republic’s founding.
• A ₺10 billion (about $290 million) financing package with VakıfBank will give small and medium-sized businesses below-market-rate loans for zero-waste and circular-economy investments.
• The foundation aims to make more than ₺100 billion available over the next two years through Turkish banks, building on cooperation agreements with the World Bank and other international organizations.
• COP31 runs 9–20 November 2026 in Antalya. Türkiye holds the presidency; Australia’s Chris Bowen leads the negotiations.

“Everyone’s COP”

“We want COP31 to be everyone’s COP, a meeting where the realities on the ground are discussed, where problems in the field are brought to the diplomacy table, and where action replaces new commitments,” Ağırbaş said on Monday, 5 October.

He argued that past climate summits have produced paper without practice: more than 80 decisions have been taken at previous COP meetings, he said, “but most of them have no counterpart on the ground, and no way of being implemented.”

The COP31 climate champion’s zero-waste mission

Ağırbaş leads the Zero Waste Foundation, established in 2023 under the auspices of Emine Erdoğan, wife of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and honorary president of the foundation. He pointed to the foundation’s Zero Waste Forum, held in recent months, which he said drew more than 5,000 people from 183 countries and more than 120 ministers — describing it as the largest gathering of its kind before a COP. The foundation has also held consultation meetings in all 81 of Türkiye’s provinces, he added.

₺10 billion to put businesses first

The headline announcement was financial. The foundation and VakıfBank, one of Türkiye’s major banks, have launched a ₺10 billion (about $290 million) financing package for zero-waste and circular-economy investments, offering loans well below market rates to small and medium-sized businesses.

According to Ağırbaş, the ambition goes further: the aim is to make more than ₺100 billion available over the next two years through Turkish banks, building on cooperation agreements with the World Bank and other international organizations.

UN stresses the private sector’s role

The UN’s voice at the meeting backed the implementation-first message. Babatunde Ahonsi, the UN resident coordinator in Türkiye, said the focus heading into COP31 is turning goals into implementation and scaling up solutions.

“Businesses are not only affected by climate change,” Ahonsi said. “They are also major drivers of investment, innovation, technology, employment and solutions. Türkiye is strengthening its enabling environment for this transformation.”

Güliz Öztürk, chair of the board of UN Global Compact Türkiye, said the aim is to identify and list the obstacles facing companies and discuss solutions together — and to feed that work into the COP31 process.

The COP31 climate champion’s mandate

As High-Level Champion, Ağırbaş — appointed by COP31 President-designate Murat Kurum in January 2026 — works alongside COP30’s champion Dan Ioschpe to mobilize cities, regions, businesses, investors and civil society under the Marrakech Partnership for Global Climate Action.

“People want to see cleaner energy, safer cities and real protection from climate shocks,” Ağırbaş said. “My job is to bring climate action out of conference rooms and into daily life.”

COP31 opens in Antalya on 9 November and runs until 20 November 2026, bringing together 197 countries under a unique arrangement: Türkiye holds the presidency and hosts the World Leaders’ Summit, while Australia leads the formal negotiations. For the champions of the process, the message is already set: this must be the COP where promises turn into practice.

For more on the road to COP31, see Watan News climate coverage.