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14 November 2025
Deputy Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change and Chief Climate Negotiator Fatma Varank attended the ‘Multilevel Climate Action Ministerial Meeting’ on ‘Urbanization and Climate Change?’, which was held during the High-Level Closing Plenary of COP30 in Belém, Brazil.
In her address, Deputy Minister Varank referred to the devastating impacts of climate change in Türkiye and worldwide. “We once again reaffirm the central role that the global climate action plans of our cities and local governments play in delivering Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC 3.0),” she said.
Resilient Cities and Green Transition
Highlighting how urban transformation helped increase the resilience of cities against climate change, disaster risks, and environmental pressures, Deputy Minister Varank made the following remarks:
“Across Türkiye, the transformation of 2 million housing units has been completed. This year, 3.2 million saplings were planted nationwide as part of National Afforestation Day. We see National Afforestation Day as giving breath to the future and vitality to our homeland. Through the Zero Waste Movement, waste separation and resource reuse have been implemented across our buildings. Incentives for building insulation and energy efficiency investments have delivered annual energy savings of 1.2 billion kilowatt-hours. This figure is equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of approximately 400,000 households. We have expanded our renewable energy capacity to 60% and are accelerating the green transition in every field.”
Climate Diplomacy and COP31 Candidacy
We implement green and circular economy–based policies, led by Local Climate Change Action Plans (YİDEP), to strengthen the resilience of our cities to the impacts of the climate crisis. By scaling up climate finance, we transform our cities not only into low-carbon spaces but also into livable, equitable, and inclusive urban centers. Türkiye stands ready to bring this experience and determination into the arena of global climate diplomacy. I would like to take this occasion to once again reaffirm our candidacy to host COP31 in 2026.