Ugur Ibrahim Altay, President of UCLG, the Union of Turkish World Municipalities (TDBB), and the Mayor of Konya Metropolitan Municipality, attended the United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference (COP29), which began in Azerbaijan with the participation of world leaders, alongside President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
This year, the COP29 opening took place from November 11 to 22 in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, with the participation of heads of state and government from around 100 countries, including Turkey. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan attended the event with a high-level delegation from Turkey, including ministers, public and civil society representatives, as well as experts and academics.
The Turkey Pavilion, established by the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization, and Climate Change as part of COP29, which gathered tens of thousands of participants from around the world, was inaugurated with a large turnout.
The opening ceremony was attended by Minister of Treasury and Finance Mehmet Şimşek, Minister of Environment, Urbanization, and Climate Change Murat Kurum, Minister of Agriculture and Forestry İbrahim Yumaklı, as well as Uğur İbrahim Altay, President of the United Cities and Local Governments, Union of Turkish World Municipalities, and Mayor of Konya Metropolitan Municipality, along with numerous other guests. The pavilion showcases Turkey's efforts and experiences in addressing global climate change to the international community.
President Altay noted that global climate change is one of the most critical issues affecting all of humanity, as rising global temperatures are negatively impacting air quality and essential life cycles. He stated, “We can view this situation, known as global climate change, as one of the greatest environmental and socioeconomic challenges threatening our century. Observations show that global average temperatures are rising rapidly, extreme weather events are leading to unexpected consequences, glaciers are melting at alarming rates, and average ocean and sea levels are steadily increasing. Global climate change is a shared problem for all humanity, and it can only be effectively addressed through collective action and collaborative solutions. Otherwise, we may face far greater, irreversible challenges in the near future.”
President Altay emphasized that, as Konya Metropolitan Municipality, they are fully aware of their responsibility to create fair, equitable, and livable cities to achieve the targets set by Turkey’s commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's “2053 Net Zero Carbon Emission Goal and Green Development Initiative.” He stated, “As local governments, we must work alongside our central government to pave the way for development across the Turkic world. In alignment with the goals of the heads of state who gathered in Kyrgyzstan last week for the 11th Summit of the Council of Heads of State of the Organization of Turkic States, we must support them and our national development goals as local authorities.”
President Altay went on to detail the Konya Metropolitan Municipality’s initiatives addressing global climate change. These include projects such as Zero Waste, the Konya Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventory Report and Mitigation Action Plan, the Transportation Master Plan and Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan, the Zero Carbon Buildings Project, the Air Quality Monitoring System, the Environmental Noise Action Plan, natural gas conversions for low-income families in the city center, renewable energy investments, wastewater treatment facilities, conservation efforts for Beyşehir Lake, Lake Tuz, and Lake Meke, bicycle-related projects, parks and afforestation areas, water conservation, effective use of agricultural lands, and the issuance of Green Sukuk.
The COP Summit, meaning “Conference of the Parties,” is an international climate conference organized annually by the United Nations. The conference is attended by all countries that have signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), an international agreement that came into effect in 1994.
