This year's UN climate summit will seek to turn past decisions into action, with financing the main focus, Türkiye's Environment and Climate Change Minister Murat Kurum told Reuters, as the country prepares to host and chair COP31 in November.
The minister, Murat 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 on 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 the diplomacy forum in Antalya.
"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 said 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.