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• COP 31

@ green | July-August. 2026

� Kurum issues an urgent call for world leaders to prioritise climate finance and to treat it as a strategic security priority on a par with defence spending

�Issues call on world leaders to“ show stronger, bolder and more concrete political will on climate action”

� UNDP named as delivery partner for the Climate Implementation Bridge( BRIDGE), a flagship COP31 Presidency initiative to accelerate the delivery of finance

This call to action was made on the first day of the Istanbul Climate Finance Summit, which is bringing together private banks, international financial institutions, multilateral development banks, multilateral climate funds, and a host of other entities to raise ambition and drive progress on climate finance ahead of COP31.

Kurum also argued that climate finance should be treated as a strategic security priority, as countries are increasing their long-term defence spending.

He said:“ The world is redefining what security means. NATO countries have embarked on a major transformation that will see defencerelated investment rise to as much as 5 per cent of GDP. We expect to see ambition on a similar scale in climate security.”

“ After all, defence spending is an investment today to protect against tomorrow’ s threats. Climate investment must be viewed through the same strategic lens.

“ The question could not be clearer: if we no

CALL TO ACTION: Murat Kurum argues that climate finance should be treated as a strategic security priority.

longer have a safe world to live in, what purpose will all our spending on defending our countries serve?”

Finance is a key priority for this year’ s UN climate summit, COP31, on Nov 9-20 in Antalya, Türkiye. The COP31 Presidency has made clear the vital role that climate finance plays in rebuilding trust in the COP process and in delivering the concrete progress people around the world expect.

Kurum added:“ Today, we issue a clear call to leaders around the world: the time has come to demonstrate stronger, bolder and more concrete political will for climate action.”

“ We urgently call on every world leader to commit more resources to clean energy, electrification, resilient cities and green industry— and to unite in global resolve to accelerate this transformation.”

This call to action was supported by sessions at the Istanbul Climate Finance Summit, including consultations and events with financial actors on key Presidency priorities, such as resilient cities and scaling up climate finance to meet the Presidency’ s flagship“ 35-by-35 " electrification target.

The Climate Implementation Bridge( BRIDGE), a flagship initiative of the COP31 Presidency, also took a major step towards operationalisation, with the UN Development Programme( UNDP) announced as BRIDGE’ s delivery partner.

The BRIDGE will play a key role in closing the gap between climate ambition and capital deployment by providing country-driven implementation support to help countries translate their climate and development priorities into finance-ready project portfolios.

UNDP’ s role as delivery partner will ensure that the BRIDGE leverages the established delivery infrastructure across the UN system, enabling support to be provided quickly and

UN Climate Change, through the # Together4Transparency initiative, UNEP, UNDP, FAO, CBIT-GSP and the Baku Transparency Platform( BTP) are joining forces to advance the implementation of the Paris Agreement’ s Enhanced Transparency Framework( ETF) and to support countries in preparing and submitting their Biennial Transparency Reports( BTRs) in 2026.

A series of high-level and technical events in Baku, Azerbaijan, during UNFCCC Climate Week 4 brought together governments, experts and support providers to build political momentum, share practical solutions and help countries advance their transparency reporting.

The programme, featuring a high-level dialogue on transparency, is“ Stepping Up ETF Implementation.”

Under the leadership of the COP 29, COP 30, and COP 31 Presidencies, the dialogue will bring together high-level government representatives, partners, experts, and other relevant stakeholders to build political momentum for ETF implementation, strengthen the link between transparency of action and support, and provide a space for support providers to identify gaps and challenges in BTR reporting and opportunities to assist developing countries.

This was followed by the first of two technical workshops, themed“ The Final Mile: Advancing BTR Preparation for Submission in 2026”. The workshops provided countries with practical support as they move towards submitting their second round of BTRs ahead of the Dec 31, 2026, deadline.