EduAsiaNews, Antalya — The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is urging countries to accelerate the implementation of their climate commitments at the 31st UN Climate Change Conference (COP31), being held in Antalya, Türkiye, from November 9 to 20, 2026. The world is not short of ideas to address the climate crisis but continues to face an implementation gap. Therefore, COP31’s success should be measured by how quickly solutions are put into practice and the benefits they deliver to communities, rather than by political agreements alone.
The conference, held at the ANFAŞ Antalya Expo Center, involves 197 Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), comprising 196 countries and the European Union. Around 100,000 participants are expected to attend the conference. A total of 102 leaders from 95 countries and seven international organizations are scheduled to participate. Of these, 37 are heads of state and 35 are heads of government. The high-level leaders’ summit is scheduled for November 11–12, 2026.
UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen said that every fraction of a degree of warming avoided, however small, would benefit human lives and the environment.
“Every fraction of a degree of warming avoided will save lives, protect ecosystems, and reduce economic losses. There is no good outcome if we remain above 1.5 degrees Celsius. Now is the time to strengthen climate action, not give up,” she said in a UNEP statement on November 10, 2026.
UNFCCC Executive Secretary Simon Stiell also urged countries to translate global targets into concrete action. In his opening address at COP31, he said, “The progress made so far remains far from sufficient and has not been equitable.”
According to Stiell, COP31 must accelerate the implementation of solutions, including expanding renewable energy capacity, strengthening electricity grids, increasing adaptation financing, and reducing methane emissions, particularly from the oil, gas, and waste sectors. He noted that around 90 percent of large-scale renewable energy projects are now cheaper than fossil fuel-based alternatives.
UNEP has identified several priorities for accelerating climate action, including reducing methane emissions and non-CO2 super pollutants, strengthening the resilience of cities and communities, and developing sustainable cooling systems to address extreme temperatures. The agency also supports the Zero Waste initiative to reduce food waste and methane emissions from landfills. In the building sector, UNEP supports a target of reducing energy intensity by at least 25 percent by 2035 through improved building efficiency and more environmentally friendly cooling technologies.
UNEP Climate Change Division Director Martin Krause had previously highlighted methane reduction as one of the measures capable of delivering relatively rapid results.
“Methane emissions make a major contribution to global warming, and we have many solutions to curb and reduce them across the fossil fuel, waste, and agricultural sectors,” he told Anadolu on November 5, 2026.
In addition to emissions reductions, UNEP is advocating increased financing and technology support for developing countries to help translate their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) into projects that are ready for financing and implementation.
Stiell stressed that climate finance must become more accessible, be disbursed more quickly, and be distributed more equitably.
“We have made commitments. Now we must deliver on them,” he said. (**)
