Below are remarks from UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell, during a press conference hosted by the COP31 President Designate, Minister Murat Kurum in Istanbul, Türkiye, on Thursday 12 February 2026.
It is an absolute pleasure to be here in Istanbul.
And I thank the Government of Türkiye for hosting us so warmly.
It has been an opportunity to hear more about Türkiye's forward-looking work towards zero-waste, and its renewables boom.
Now is the time for us all to be looking ahead to set a clear and ambitious direction, on the road to COP31 and beyond.
For the valuable discussions so far, I thank Türkiye the incoming COP31 Presidency, as well as Australia, in its role of President of Negotiations, and as one of the Vice Presidents during COP31.
I also thank the current COP30 Presidency of Brazil and the COP29 Presidency of Azerbaijan, whose vital work we will all build on, this year and ongoing.
One thing is clear: COP31 in Antalya will take place in extraordinary times.
We find ourselves in a new world disorder.
This is a period of instability and insecurity. Of strong arms and trade wars. The very concept of international cooperation is under attack.
These challenges are real and serious.
But climate action can deliver stability in an unstable world.
In the face of the current chaos, we can, and must, drive forward a new era of international climate cooperation.
And UN Climate Change has a plan for how to take us forward in this new era…
For how climate action becomes the not-so-secret weapon we need to deliver security and prosperity.
To see where we need to go, we must look at where we are, and where we've come from.
Climate action can be divided into three eras.
In the first, we uncovered the problem. But instead of responding, we argued over its scale.
In the second, we started to get serious about solutions.
And during this era, together we built the Paris Agreement.
That didn't solve the climate crisis - but it changed our course.
And it showed that nations can deliver change on a major scale when they stand together.
In the decade since Paris, clean energy investment is up tenfold - from two hundred billion dollars to over two trillion dollars a year.
And, in 2025, amidst all the economic uncertainty and gale-force political headwinds, the global transition kept surging forward:
Clean energy investment kept growing strongly, and was more than double that of fossil fuels.
Renewables overtook coal as the world's top electricity source.
The majority of countries produced new national climate plans that will help drive their economic growth up and - for the first time - global emissions down.
And, at COP30, nations said with one voice: the global transition is now irreversible, the Paris Agreement is working, and together we will make it go further and faster.
Even if it's clearly still not as fast or fair enough, it's hard to think of a decade when international climate cooperation has delivered more real-world progress.
Not by coincidence: it is also under unprecedented threat.
From those determined to use their power to defy economic and scientific logic, and increase dependence on polluting coal, oil and gas - even though that means worsening climate disasters and spiralling costs for households and businesses.
These forces are undeniably strong.
But they need not prevail.
There is a clear alternative to this chaos and regression:
And that is countries standing together, building on all we have achieved to date, to make it go further and faster…
Working more closely with businesses, investors, and regional and civic leaders - to deliver more real-world results in every country.
In short, driving forward a new, third era of climate action. The era of implementation.
This is an era to speed-up and scale-up.
It must start with a relentless focus on delivering - or even exceeding - the targets agreed in the first global stocktake, in 2023.
Doubling energy efficiency and tripling clean energy by 2030.
Transitioning away from all fossil fuels, in a just, fair and orderly manner.
Strengthening resilience and reducing vulnerability.
And ensuring more climate finance reaches people everywhere, especially the most vulnerable.
By the second global stocktake, in 2028, we must be on track to meet those commitments.
So that countries come to COP33 confident of a robust response that delivers not just survival but strength:
Boosting resilience, growing economies, and slashing emissions. Committing to new and stronger targets that the science demands.
So how do we get there?
First, by rapidly scaling up a pipeline of projects globally that get us to current targets.
By match-making between countries, finance and the private sector - to secure partnerships, agreements and projects that translate into real-world results at scale.
We saw in Belém what a difference the Action Agenda can make, and why it's as much a part of the work ahead under the Paris Agreement as the negotiations - even as they remain critical.
At COP30: a trillion dollars for clean grids, and major investments in forest protection, climate health, and much more.
Those skilled in the art of deal-making are already seizing the huge opportunities on offer.
This approach is generating massive investment flows, leveraging the market-driven momentum that's already transforming global energy systems irreversibly.
Those stepping back from climate leadership are simply gifting this goldmine of new jobs and wealth to competitor economies.
Our task now is to ramp up this transformation, and ensure that every country has a full seat at this table of opportunity - particularly vulnerable and developing economies.
Second, hyper-charging the flow of finance is key, so every country can seize the vast benefits of climate action, and build climate resilience to protect their peoples.
Ensuring countries have the support they need to deliver in full on their National Adaptation Plans and Nationally Determined Contributions, and to boost them.
That means lowering the cost of capital, and securing a massive surge in the quantity and quality of climate finance, especially for developing countries.
Multilateral Development Banks will be crucial into providing more finance, bringing in the private sector, producing better data, and continuing to reform.
Third, we must keep building momentum at the vanguard of climate action.
That means the most ambitious coming together in coalitions of the willing: creating roadmaps to transition away from fossil fuels and halt deforestation.
It means using the tools that have come out of the negotiations - such as the Global Implementation Accelerator and Mission 1.5 - and fleshing out the Baku to Belém Roadmap to $1.3 Trillion dollars.
Done right, these can catalyse cooperation and speed up action.
Fourth, we must continue to evolve our own work for this new era:
Moving our process ever closer to the real economy, for faster implementation, delivering more benefits for billions more people.
I have convened experts to advise on this, fully respecting that this is a Party-driven process.
I'll say more on this in the months ahead.
And I will keep working with leadership in Brazil, Türkiye, Australia and - from next year - Ethiopia, towards a successful second global stocktake.
Some will ask if this plan can be executed.
Whether, in today's fractured geopolitics, climate cooperation can keep delivering the major step-up that is needed.
My unequivocal answer is: yes.
Why?
Because it is indisputably in every nation's self-interest.
Climate action delivers on the top day-to-day concerns of citizens everywhere:
Lower energy and household bills.
Far less pollution, so billions can breathe easier and safer.
Many millions of new jobs and people with power for the first time, especially in the developing world where over 700 million people still lack energy access.
That means small businesses with access to e-commerce, new customers and finance to grow…
Kids with lights and technology to help them learn...
Families with refrigerated food and clean cooking…
And clean cooling as extreme heat gets worse.
Right now, security is the word on most leaders' lips, yet many cling to a definition that is dangerously narrow.
Because let's get real: for any leader who is serious about security, climate action is mission critical, as climate impacts wreak havoc on every population and every economy.
Growing greenhouse gas pollution means escalating climate extremes fuelling famine, displacement, and war.
The good news is there is now a very, very clear alternative.
Because climate cooperation is an antidote to the chaos and coercion of this moment, and clean energy is the obvious solution to spiralling fossil fuel costs, both human and economic.
The fact is renewables are the clearest, cheapest path to energy security and sovereignty - shielding countries and economies from shocks unleashed by wars, trade turmoil and the might-is-right politics that leave every nation poorer.
The fact is climate adaptation is the only path to securing billions of human lives, as climate impacts get rapidly worse.
As climate disasters hit food supplies and drive inflation, resilient supply chains are crucial for the price stability populations are demanding. And they are increasingly unforgiving of governments who don't deliver it.
So more than ever, climate action and cooperation are the answer: not despite global instability, but because of it.
There is a huge amount of work before us, this year and in the years to come.
Türkiye - a crossroads of the world and a centre of diplomacy - is the perfect place to get on with this job.
A place for countries with very different perspectives to come together and drive our collective efforts forward.
The UN is with Türkiye and Australia every step of the way, to make sure COP31 in Antalya delivers, for people, prosperity and planet.
I thank you.
