When we talk about the climate crisis, the conversation often turns to carbon emissions, rising temperatures and the energy transition. But the change we need goes well beyond these issues. The resources we use, the products we make, the materials we consume and the waste we leave behind all have consequences for the world we pass on to future generations.

For this reason, I believe the vision Türkiye puts forward on the road to COP31 should not be defined by emissions reduction alone. Climate action is also about reconsidering the way we use resources in our daily lives and across our economies. We need to consume less, make better use of what we already have, improve resource efficiency and encourage innovation in alternative materials. We also need to strengthen the circular economy. Before any of this can happen, however, we need a change in mindset.

The Zero Waste Movement is a good example of what such a change can achieve. Launched in 2017 under the leadership of first lady Emine Erdoğan, the movement has always been about more than collecting and recycling waste. At its heart is a much simpler idea: whenever possible, waste should be prevented before it is created.

What began in Türkiye has since found support in many parts of the world. That experience shows us that an idea, when it responds to a shared challenge, does not have to remain within national borders.

The United Nations General Assembly’s decision to proclaim March 30 as the International Day of Zero Waste was an important recognition of this vision at the global level. But it also raises a question about what comes next. I believe we have now reached that point.

Rethinking entire cycle

Zero waste can no longer be treated simply as a waste management issue. We have to look at the entire life cycle of a product, beginning with how it is designed and manufactured and continuing through to the end of its useful life. That means using fewer resources, keeping products in use for longer, increasing reuse and recycling and preventing waste at source before it reaches the environment.

This approach should be at the heart of future environmental policy, but change cannot come from central policies alone. A policy only becomes meaningful when people can see it and practice it in their everyday lives. We therefore need a much stronger connection between national policy and local action. Neighborhoods, schools, municipalities, businesses, production facilities and citizens all have a role to play.

This is one reason I attach importance to our cooperation with the Ministry of Interior. Strengthening local capacity helps environmental policies deliver results on the ground. At the international level, our cooperation with the World Economic Forum allows us both to share Türkiye’s experience and to learn from the experiences of other countries.

Türkiye’s work on zero waste is no longer limited to its own borders. What we have seen in Istanbul is perhaps one of the clearest examples of this.

The Zero Waste Forum, which was held on June 5-7, brought more than 5,000 participants from 183 countries to Istanbul. Those numbers matter, but what happened during the forum matters even more. We did not come together simply to repeat the environmental problems we already know. We discussed new partnerships, financing mechanisms and ways to strengthen international policy cooperation.

The Istanbul Zero Waste Festival, held in the same period, reached an even wider audience, welcoming more than 1 million people. For me, this carried another important message. Environmental policy has its greatest impact when it reaches people. Zero waste can only become a lasting transformation when it becomes part of everyday life.

I believe Istanbul can play an important role in the next stage of this journey. Türkiye has built considerable experience in zero waste, but the next step is to share that experience more widely. Istanbul has the potential to become a global center for environmental and climate diplomacy.

For centuries, the city has brought together continents, cultures and civilizations. Today, it has an opportunity to bring together different parts of the global environmental agenda as well. The Zero Waste Movement, which has grown from Türkiye into an international vision with the strong support of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and under the leadership of first lady Emine Erdoğan, gives Istanbul a particular responsibility in this regard.

Our aim is therefore not simply to make Istanbul a city where zero waste is discussed. We want it to be a place where policies are developed, experiences are shared and new international partnerships can take shape.

Türkiye's experience in COP31

The next step is COP31. Under the leadership of Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change and COP31 President Murat Kurum, Türkiye has an opportunity to bring its own experience to the international climate agenda. Türkiye can contribute in many areas, from the circular economy to climate justice and stronger representation for disadvantaged groups.

The Zero Waste Foundation is also working to ensure that local experience feeds into this process. Through Türkiye's Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Workshops held in 81 provinces, local needs and possible solutions are being identified. At the same time, our work on plastic pollution continues in the Aegean and Mediterranean regions.

In Adana, Mersin, Muğla and Antalya, provincial coordination meetings have allowed us to look at the plastic waste challenges facing our coastal provinces within the context of local conditions. We will bring findings from these meetings to the Türkiye Plastic Waste Workshop in Istanbul on Aug. 31-Sept. 1.

The workshop will bring together 17 ministries, more than 40 directorates-general and stakeholders from across the field. The purpose is not simply to discuss the scale of the problem. We want to identify solutions that can actually be put into practice.

Plastic waste, after all, is no longer an issue that can be viewed only through the narrow lens of pollution. Once plastic enters our seas, its effects do not stop at the water’s edge. It can affect ecosystems, move through food chains and ultimately have consequences for human life. What our seas look like in the future will depend, to a large extent, on the choices we make today.

Society must be included

As we move toward COP31, I believe this understanding should be part of Türkiye’s wider vision: making better choices about the materials we use, preventing waste before it is created, using resources more efficiently and making sure that society as a whole has a place in this transformation.

Our ambition should not simply be to manage waste more effectively. We should be working toward a future in which we prevent waste wherever possible, protect our resources and bring the way we produce and consume into greater harmony with nature.

Perhaps one of the most important lessons of Emine Erdoğan’s Zero Waste vision is also one of the simplest: protecting the future begins with changing the habits of today. The choices we make now will help determine the world we leave behind.