This year's U.N. climate summit will seek to turn past decisions into action, with financing the main focus, Environment and Climate Change Minister ⁠Murat Kurum told Reuters on Monday as the country prepares ⁠to host COP31 and jointly manage the event with Australia in November.

The minister Kurum said financing was the most important task, with nearly $1 trillion needed to help developing countries meet climate change targets, adding ​that raising public awareness about climate policies was essential at a time when ​wars ⁠and security crises dominate the global agenda.

"Important decisions have been taken in every COP so far. We will follow up these decisions, but what is essential is putting them into practice. The expectation of the world, of humanity from us is to move to practice," Kurum said in an interview at Antalya Diplomacy Forum (ADF) 2026, at the weekend.

"Let's take steps to realise the NDCs that countries have put forth - and there are some countries who have not put them forward," Kurum said, referring to the nationally determined contribution (NDC) of each nation.

He noted that while wars were inevitable, Türkiye would call on every nation to focus on the "big picture" and see the imminent threats posed by climate change.

The ⁠annual ⁠COP conference is the main global forum for driving action on climate change. The long-established consensus among the world's scientists is that climate change is real, mostly caused by humans, and getting worse. Its main cause is greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas, which trap heat in the atmosphere. After a lengthy standoff last year, Türkiye and Australia agreed on a format in which Türkiye would host the COP31 summit and hold its presidency, while Australia leads the negotiation process. The COP conference will take place in November in the southern Turkish province of Antalya.

Phasing out fossil fuels

The minister who will also be COP31 President said Türkiye wanted the conference to be "the COP of implementation", where actions rather than promises take precedence.

"We want all countries to hand in their NDCs by COP31. We are working ​for this, we are also working for this within the U.N.," he said, adding that $150 million in ​financing was needed for developing countries to prepare their NDCs. One of the most significant perceived shortcomings from last year's COP30 was the lack of a concrete agreement around language to promote the ⁠global phasing-out ‌of fossil fuels.

Asked ‌about how the issue would be addressed at COP31, Kurum said Türkiye aimed to press countries to implement the decisions taken on ‌this issue at COP30, adding that technology to allow such a shift needed to be further developed.

He noted that Türkiye was using ​both renewable energy and fossil fuels because ⁠it needs to meet its needs and be self-sufficient, but added it would ⁠move away from this if it finds cheaper energy through new technology.

"We must bring moving away ⁠from fossil fuels to ​the global agenda by providing a transition period. During COP31, we will put into effect those partial decisions taken in COP30."

COP meetings have been held on a rotating basis across continents since 1995. Some notable hosts include Germany (Berlin) for COP1, Japan (Kyoto) for COP3 Denmark (Copenhagen) for COP15, France (Paris) for COP21, where the Paris Agreement was adopted, the United Kingdom (Glasgow) for COP26, Egypt (Sharm el-Sheikh) for COP27, the United Arab Emirates (Dubai) for COP28, Azerbaijan (Baku) for COP29 in 2024 and Brazil (Belem) for COP30 in 2025.

Hosting a COP requires large-scale organizational capacity. The host country must prepare infrastructure capable of serving more than 100,000 participants, including expansive meeting halls and media centers, as well as spaces for side events, and comprehensive security arrangements. An event of this scale also demands strong logistics and transportation planning.

The host nation is responsible for meeting the U.N.'s security standards and implementing zero-waste practices, sustainability criteria, and a carbon-neutral operations plan. Because heads of state and government attend the summit, the country must also conduct high-level diplomatic preparations and coordinate pre-negotiation meetings and technical committee sessions without disruptions.

In this sense, the host country is not only responsible for managing the logistics of a massive event but also for ensuring that global negotiations take place in a constructive environment.

For Türkiye, hosting the summit would position the country as a hub of global climate diplomacy for two weeks. The process is expected to significantly increase international interest in Türkiye in areas such as climate finance, clean energy and green technology.

Türkiye’s climate policies, emissions-reduction targets, and green transition programs would serve as a global example.