As climate change intensifies pressure on countries to meet emissions targets and strengthen resilience, Türkiye is seeking to put climate adaptation at the center of the 31st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP31), which will be held in Antalya in November, with a focus on turning climate plans into concrete projects.

Halil Hasar, director of Türkiye’s Climate Change Presidency and chief climate diplomacy officer (CCDO) for COP31, told Daily Sabah that rising temperatures, droughts, floods and wildfires threaten water and food security, energy supplies, public health and economic resilience, making adaptation increasingly urgent.

"The effects of climate change are no longer merely an environmental problem. They have become a multidimensional risk affecting every aspect of economic, social and community life,” Hasar said.

The Mediterranean basin, including Türkiye, is among the regions most affected by climate change, with rising temperatures and irregular rainfall putting growing pressure on water resources, according to assessments by Türkiye’s Climate Change Presidency.

Developing countries and small island states face mounting risks from extreme weather, melting glaciers and rising sea levels. For Pacific island countries, climate change has become an existential threat, Hasar said.

He said COP31 should move adaptation beyond negotiations and national planning toward practical measures backed by financing, technology and international cooperation.

Adaptation plans need to translate into action

Hasar said the biggest challenge is the gap between national adaptation plans and their implementation.

"Today, the biggest problem in climate adaptation is the gap between plans and implementation,” he said, adding that many countries have prepared plans but lack the concrete projects and financing to deliver them.

COP31 aims to address this through measurable indicators under the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA) and a concrete road map for the commitment made in Belem to triple adaptation finance.

Expanding early-warning systems is another priority. Hasar echoed the COP31 president’s view that accurate forecasts and timely warnings can prevent major losses of life and property at relatively low cost. Türkiye has also launched a mechanism through ILBANK, its development bank for municipalities, to help cities in developing countries turn resilience plans into fundable projects.

Climate finance is expected to be among the hardest issues at COP31. Under the goal agreed in Baku, financing for developing countries is to reach at least $1.3 trillion annually by 2035. Hasar said most parties are focused on delivering that target and not reopening it, but disagreements remain over who provides the money, which sources are used and how it is delivered.

"The fundamental differences between parties concern not whether climate action is necessary, but how it should be implemented and what support should accompany it,” he said.

He also relayed the COP31 president’s argument that countries should view climate change through the same strategic lens as defense spending, since a flood that destroys a city’s infrastructure is also a serious security threat.

At the pre-COP meetings in Fiji and Tuvalu, small island states and least developed countries named bureaucratic barriers to accessing finance, delays in funds arriving and growing debt burdens as their main concerns, he said.

BRIDGE connects climate plans with investment

Many developing countries have identified their climate priorities but struggle to secure financing for projects.

"We developed the Climate Implementation Bridge (BRIDGE) precisely to close this gap,” Hasar said.

Rather than creating a new fund or implementing projects directly, BRIDGE aims to make priority climate projects investment-ready and connect them with suitable financing sources.

At participating governments’ request, finance and sectoral ministries will help prioritize and develop projects, assess their financial viability and connect them with potential investors. Development banks, climate funds and private-sector representatives will be involved from the outset.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is BRIDGE’s implementation partner. Ethiopia, Fiji, Indonesia, Pakistan and Uzbekistan are the first pilot countries, selected based on regional diversity, national demand and readiness.

"At COP31, we aim to expand the initiative to a second group of countries and announce commitments from cooperation partners,” Hasar said. Financing processes for the first projects are expected to be completed in 2027 and 2028.

BRIDGE will also support the COP31 Action Agenda, which sets voluntary targets to accelerate existing climate efforts without imposing new obligations on countries.

"One of the most important practical tools for this approach is our COP31 Action Agenda,” Hasar said.

One priority is the "35 by 35” Global Electrification Goal, which aims to increase electricity’s share of global final energy consumption from approximately 20% to 35% by 2035. Achieving this will require more renewable energy, stronger electricity grids, energy storage and investment, particularly in developing countries. The agenda also aims to reduce energy-use intensity in buildings by at least 25% by 2035.

Success depends on lasting results

Asked how Türkiye would judge COP31’s success, Hasar said the test would be whether its decisions lead to measurable results beyond the summit itself.

"COP31’s success should be assessed not only by the decisions taken at the closing session, but also by the extent to which those decisions have produced tangible results on the ground one year later,” he said.

He said a key measure would be whether initiatives launched in Antalya continue when COP32 convenes in Ethiopia, with progress monitored and their impact expanded.

Hasar described this approach through Imece, an Anatolian tradition of collective solidarity, saying climate action requires countries to work together toward shared goals.

"Our goal is to strengthen consensus through dialogue, turn consensus into concrete action, and leave Antalya with a lasting implementation legacy that can be sustained through the collective efforts of the whole world,” he said.