COP31 President-Designate, H.E. Murat Kurum today outlined how Türkiye’s model of urban reconstruction following the 2023 earthquake represents a vision of scaling up climate action in cities.
During his keynote address at the ‘Türkiye’s road to COP31: Resilient Cities’ event, he outlined a vision “to make resilient, sustainable and people-centred cities one of the main pillars of the global climate agenda.”
Mr. Kurum, who will lead the annual UN climate summit COP31 in Antalya this November and serves as Türkiye’s Minister for Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, has led the ministry’s reconstruction effort which has already rebuilt almost half a million homes across the affected region.
Speaking at an international conference in Hatay, one of the epicenters of the destruction, Mr. Kurum set out how the COP31 President sees the November conference as “a platform for solutions – one that responds to the challenges of cities, makes the capacity of local governments visible, and turns words into concrete results.”
He explained the Presidency’s intention to make resilient cities one of the fundamental priorities of the international climate agenda “because globally, we must reduce emissions from buildings.”
