International Energy Agency (IEA) head Fatih Birol has described Türkiye’s hosting of the United Nations climate conference this year as a major opportunity both for the country and for the global climate agenda.
The COP31 will be held in Turkish Mediterranean province Antalya from Nov. 10 to 2. Preparations are underway for the conference, which Türkiye is expected to welcome more than 100 heads of state and thousands of high-level participants.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan met with IEA chief Fatih Birol last week to exchange views on the critically important conference.
Following his meeting with Erdoğan, Birol emphasized that the Turkish president attaches great importance to the climate summit.
“This genuinely pleased me. As with previous climate summits, I told Mr. President that both the International Energy Agency and I personally are ready to provide Türkiye with all possible support,” he told daily Hürriyet in an interview.
Stressing that the conference represents a significant opportunity for Türkiye, Birol noted that the meetings will focus on how solutions can be found to the increasingly frequent climate disasters worldwide.
“In particular, this is very important for Türkiye and the Turkish people to demonstrate their humanitarian values — to show the sensitivity we have toward these issues and the efforts made by the Turkish people to make the world a better place.”
Birol added that some regions have been disproportionately affected by climate disasters.
“One of them is Africa. Although the African continent is responsible for only 3 percent of global carbon emissions, it is among the regions most severely impacted by climate change. I know that Türkiye has strong sensitivities toward helping find solutions to Africa’s problems,” he said.
The second is the Mediterranean region, Birol noted, adding that the Mediterranean is also heavily affected by climate disasters.
“According to our assessments, warming in the Mediterranean is around 20 percent higher than the global average, and forest fires in the region have tripled in recent years. While the agenda of the Antalya summit has not yet been finalized, I believe these two issues could emerge as the main themes of the conference.”
Birol also said he will hold separate meetings on Feb. 10 with Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar and Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Minister Murat Kurum, who is also serving as the COP31 president.
Additionally, Birol noted that he will deliver a speech on the global energy agenda and COP31 at a meeting in Ankara on Feb. 10, organized at the invitation of the Foreign Ministry and attended by all foreign ambassadors based in Türkiye.
