Press conference, UN Climate Meetings (SB64), Bonn, Germany

Good afternoon colleagues. Today at the UN June Climate meetings in Bonn the incoming COP31 Presidency of Türkiye announced new targets as part of its global climate Action Agenda launch. I’m here with the COP31 COP President-Designate Minister Murat Kurum from Türkiye.

To his left, the President-Designate of COP31 Negotiations, Minister Chris Bowen from Australia. And the Executive Secretary of UN Climate Change, Simon Stiell. We will hear introductory remarks, and then we will take a few questions.

Without further ado, I’m handing over to the COP31 President-Designate, Mr Kurum. The floor is yours. MURAT KURUM, COP31 PRESIDENT-DESIGNATE, MINISTER FOR ENVIRONMENT AND URBAN PLANNING (TÜRKIYE) ( via interpreter, translated from Turkish Thank you so much.

Distinguished Executive Secretary, Dear Friends, Mr Minister Chris, Members of the Press. We meet today in Bonn, a city whose history carries deep meaning. Bonn came to embody Europe's determination to rise again after the devastation of war.

Today, it also stands among the important centres of our shared global effort to confront the climate crisis. Here, in this meaningful setting, and in the presence of valued friends such as yourselves, I wish to make one point clear from the outset: our common home, the Earth, is passing through one of the most critical periods it has ever faced. At such a defining moment for the world, we are pleased to share with you the priorities of the COP31 Action Agenda and the strong commitment to implementation that underpins our work.

Today, I would like to repeat the call we are making to all humanity. In climate action, the time for simply setting out goals is behind us. The task before us now is to accelerate implementation.

It is with this understanding, and with this resolve, that we have shaped the COP31 Action Agenda. Our priorities span a wide field: electrification, zero waste, food security, resilient cities, green industrialization, youth participation, health and education. We do not approach these areas as a list of agenda items.

We see them as a framework for implementation, designed to produce concrete results. Guided by this approach, we have set out clear and measurable targets for 2035. We aim to accelerate the clean energy transition by raising the global electrification rate to 35 percent.

We aim to bring zero waste and methane reduction to the centre of climate action. In the buildings sector, we aim to reduce energy intensity by 25 percent, making our cities more resilient, more efficient and better prepared for the future. In production and manufacturing, we aim to advance green industrialization and support the circular economy by increasing the global circular material use rate to at least 15 percent.

We will work to ensure that every young person, in every part of the world, has access to education that builds awareness of the climate crisis. At the same time, by providing all young farmers with training on climate-resilient agricultural practices, we will contribute to strengthening global food security. Through the Climate Implementation Bridge, we aim to support countries in turning their Nationally Determined Contributions into investable project portfolios.

In this way, we seek to help climate finance reach the ground faster and with greater impact. Because what the world needs today is not another round of promises. It needs to see existing commitments delivered.

This is why COP31 is not about creating new headings for the sake of creating them. Its central purpose is to ensure that the decisions already taken are translated fully into action. More than that, it is about advancing a global process of action: moving beyond statements of intent and achieving real results.

It is also about making climate action visible far beyond negotiation rooms — in our cities, in our fields, in industry, in energy systems and in people's everyday lives. Of course, we know that no country can carry out this transformation on its own. For that reason, we are building COP31 on dialogue, consensus and action.

Our aim is to deepen cooperation, scale up successful practices, help finance reach the ground more quickly, and turn targets into investments opportunities. In a few moments, together with our colleagues, we will be pleased to take your questions. We see this meeting as an important opportunity to reflect the spirit of COP31.

Climate change is a global challenge that does not stop at borders. The answer to such a challenge must be built on shared responsibility, strong cooperation and determined implementation. Here in Bonn, we are strengthening dialogue.

In Antalya, we will build broader consensus and stronger action. And together, we will carry climate action from words to implementation, and from implementation to results. Thank you for your participation and interest.

CHRIS BOWEN, COP31 PRESIDENT OF NEGOTIATIONS, MINISTER FOR CLIMATE CHANGE AND ENERGY (AUSTRALIA): Thank you very much. I'm delighted to be here to support a very important day in the history of COP31, the release of the Action Agenda, led by my friend Murat Kurum. And also I want to acknowledge Fatma Varank and her leadership as well in developing the Action Agenda.

I think that this Action Agenda rises to the moment. There's a lot of concern around the world about the geopolitical environment. We're in the middle of the worst energy crisis in our history, and this increases the task for all of us.

The good news is that the answer to improved energy reliability and energy sovereignty is also the answer for emissions reduction – that is more electrification, more renewable energy, sovereign form of energy, reliable, which is also cheap and is also the best for the climate. And the Action Agenda really lays out a very comprehensive plan to increase electrification but also the other important task that Murat and Türkiye have laid out before the world in terms of a clean economy, a circular economy, resilient cities.

One of the impressive things I think about the Action Agenda is that it draws on Türkiye's experience and Murat's leadership domestically in Türkiye with matters of urbanisation, of resilient cities, of in dealing with the resilience of natural disasters, and rising again after the setbacks of natural disasters in Türkiye. But it doesn't do so in a way which emphasises Türkiye's challenges but takes Türkiye's learnings and shares them with the world, and I think that's very impressive.

So, I'm delighted to support most strongly the Action Agenda outlined by Türkiye. Now can I perhaps do what I sometimes like to do in press conferences in Australia and pre-empt some questions from journalists and answer them before you ask them. I find this an efficient way of managing these things.

The relationship between the Action Agenda and the Negotiations I'm sure will be on your minds – what does this mean for the negotiations? Can I just say: they're separate things. They're related things, but they're different things.

There's a different process, there's a different threshold. The Action Agenda is set by the Presidency, the negotiations are steered but are a party-driven process and require consensus. But what we will do is take inspiration from the Action Agenda and try and give momentum for the Action Agenda through the negotiations around some of these key items, and we've worked hard at that.

And we want to ensure that while Türkiye has authority of the Action Agenda and Australia has authority over the Negotiations, we're bringing them together. And that's exactly what we've been doing and will continue to do. I think, for example, it's wonderful that Murat and Türkiye have outlined priority areas for young people and educating young farmers, and the Youth Champion appointed by Australia with Türkiye's strong support is a young farmer from regional Queensland in Australia.

So, this shows the synergies that we're bringing, the complementarity, the harmony that we're bringing to the process, so as to talk to parties about what is possible in the negotiations and to drive to a good solid, strong outcome for electrifying those things that can be electrified, for reducing emissions and using that as a mechanism to transition away from fossil fuels, and that's very important.

So, today's a good day. It is a document which challenges the world, as it should be. Because we need this COP to be a COP of implementation and acceleration, and I think the Action Agenda is a very impressive blueprint to help us do that.

SIMON STIELL, EXECUTIVE SECRETARY, UN CLIMATE CHANGE: Electrification is a global game-changer, supercharging economies, jobs and living standards, while fighting back against the global climate crisis. All around the world, clean energy is surging. Renewables and batteries offer energy security, economic stability, and lower bills for households and businesses.

To deploy and absorb them at even greater scale, we must hit fast-forward on electrification: Rewiring the global economy can kick the world's dependency on to coal, oil and gas, bringing energy costs down, and increasing energy security. Dramatic and rapid change is achievable with existing technology. Last year renewables overtook coal as the world's top electricity source.

Something unimaginable when the Paris Agreement was struck over a decade ago. The global economy is shifting faster than most people think, through climate cooperation and hard, cold economic reality: renewables are cheaper. Meanwhile, fossil fuel pollution is baking our planet, while driving a cost crisis around the world.

Electrification will drive innovation as more countries build and scale their efforts, seeding new industries, while saving billions on imported fuels and creating countless new jobs. Clean energy and electrification can also help expand energy access, making sure no-one is left behind. The Global Climate Action Agenda can play a vital role.

Complementing negotiations, bringing together governments, companies and investors, cities and regions, civil society, and many more. Amping up the Action Agenda can help turn words on paper into projects on the ground. Drive faster and fairer progress – in developed and developing countries.

And provide a prospectus for increased investment and clarity about climate finance needs – a trillion dollars was committed to grids and storage by 2030 at COP30 in Belem. I welcome this initiative from the Turkish COP31 presidency – working closely with Australia. As well as the other targets announced today: building more resilient, energy-efficient cities and cutting waste.

And I commend them for building on the 6 thematic axes of the Action Agenda that Brazil launched at COP30 last year – introducing alignment with the first global stocktake outcomes. Reducing waste, increasing efficiency, and building resilient cities can cut carbon, methane and other dangerous greenhouse gases, while protecting people from disasters that are coming thicker and faster.

So these are just some examples of how the Action Agenda can help. Governments face major challenges, the Action Agenda delivers solutions, acceleration and faster implementation. So I think that frames where we are this afternoon with Türkiye's presentation of the expansion under the Action Agenda under the 6 axes for the Action Agenda moving forward.

JOURNALIST (TELEGRAPH INDIA): We are having three persons out here who are going to shape climate action in the world. So I think the most important persons in that context, the global climate future are here. So the question to the panel is, after the Belem political package, the COP30 presidency raised the issue, or pointed out the issues, of the Global Goal on Adaptation and finance, as issues that he would take forward.

Recently, we have also seen in Santa Marta that more than 50 countries have kind of have worked on the fossil fuel issues. So how these things are going to influence or to affect the COP 31 negotiations? Will those be part of the package or the part of the discussion?

Health is also coming up very strongly. I would like to know the COP31 Presidency designate and COP31 President of Negotiations response to that. Thank you.

I'd like to highlight that all of the COPs hosted so far, chaired so far, we see them as important steps and parts of our fight in this issue. Each COP presidency, the framework of UN Secretary, where there is a very strong team, we are all foundational stones of this struggle, this fight. In the last decade, following the Paris Agreement, we want the second decade to be about implementation.

Of course, commitments are very valuable. Of course, the steps taken so far are very valuable, but where we are now, we have to focus on implementation, as you've mentioned, with gone through Belem, Santa Marta, Azerbaijan, and at every platform of discussion, at every forum of discussion, we've repeatedly said, very clearly, that the world has reached this final point, but what are we waiting for then?

We have to move on with implementation. So, since we're talking about this, since we're saying the world has changed, where the world is struggling with crises, then COP31 needs to be about implementation. So, we took on this perspective, and of course, the decisions made before, and the commitments made before, we will be monitoring them.

We will be firsthand involved in this process, but we also want to yield results. That's why we focused on 10 items and 6 thematic axes, where we've set out targets to make these topics concrete, and these are the targets we want to walk forward for. What we want is, for example, we want electrification everywhere in the world, because we say it's very important.

Energy diversity, electrification. When you look at the crises, we're going through globally. The main focus becomes energy, actually.

So, each country, we say, should be self-sufficient. So, electrification is at the heart of this, is the basis of this. Reducing emissions, transitioning to circular economy, reshaping, manufacturing, transforming, and achieving circular economy.

These are all steps that will concretely reduce the emissions. This is what we're going to find for. This is how decisive we will be.

We're not hiding anything. We're not discussing anything behind closed doors. Everything's out in the open, everything's transparent, and this, our perspective, is always going to be inclusive.

So, we're all inviting everyone to fulfil their commitments made. So Chris maybe would like to add something. Certainly.

Murat has summarised very well, but also, we have many inputs to COP31. We have the work that we're doing together, Türkiye, Australia, Brazil, Azerbaijan, on the Accelerator and Mission 1.5, and then there's the work that Brazil is doing on the roadmap. Also, there's the Santa Marta work, which we welcome as an input.

I've met with the Ministers for Colombia and the Netherlands in recent weeks, and invited their input to our negotiations, and we'll give them time to put the results of Santa Marta to us, along with other Parties and other inputs. So, this is a process, as I said yesterday, this Bonn event is an important one, but it is not the COP. The COP is in Antalya.

This is not the end. It is not beginning of the end, but it is the end of the beginning of the COP process. So, we're going to take all the processes, including Santa Marta, the – as I said in my opening remarks – the momentum built out of the Action Agenda, and feed it into what will be an open, transparent, inclusive and predictable negotiation, but one that is very much focused on a strong outcome.

Now, I'd just like to add to both Murat and Chris's statements, that what we're finding, as we now move into this era of implementation, and as we've seen, the Action Agenda grow over the years, all of these Paris-aligned voluntary initiatives are of high value. They are moving the needle within the real economy. But in terms of how that is brought back into the process, if they're brought back into the process, that is down to the parties to decide.

It's under the stewardship, the steering of the presidencies, and this year, with Murat and with Chris, as to, if, what, how and when, that will be done. JOURNALIST (CLIMATE HOME NEWS): To the COP31 President-Designate, I would like to ask about the target on resilient cities and buildings. There was a change in the information that we received on the press release.

First, it was a target for – on increasing energy efficiency, and then it was a target to reduce energy consumption intensity, and so far what I have asked with this different energy expert it is not the same, and the new one has less ambitious or should be a compliment between them. So, I would like to know why the changes on that target. And the COP31 President of Negotiations, definitely we're going to ask about the relationship between the Action Agenda and the Negotiations.

I would like to know, what would you like to see in the COP regarding the electrification target? What would you consider a success on that on the COP? In terms of resilient cities, we want to reduce energy consumption intensity by 25% by 2035.

That means the 25% reduction in the energy needed in a city to be used. So, you can either invest in renewables, you can increase micromobility facilities, you can work on transportation routes, you can increase the green land, you can make your buildings energy efficient. There are various ways of doing this.

And you can set up a more resilient infrastructure, or you can purify your water, or you can recycle your waste, right? There are many, many, many actions that can be taken on their best target. So, this target, and other targets set forth, in totality, actually align with the NDCs of the countries that they set for themselves.

So, that is building the foundation for the activities achieving net zero targets, all of them. Their extent will be discussed during the negotiations. But I believe, realising these targets by 2035 will significantly accelerate all of this action, and will fully support, because if we can achieve electrification at that level, if we can reduce waste by 50%, because when you look at it, countries, specifically developing countries, unfortunately having their emissions rising, and they're committing to reduce their emission from the increase, right?

So, we have to lower the status quo, lower the current level if we want to do better. So, all of these targets have this perspective, and not just renewables. All means of energy intensity reduction.

We want a strong outcome on electrification in the negotiations, we are encouraging parties to think about what that looks like. And in our consultations that we've undertaken with groups and Parties, we've referred to Türkiye's Action Agenda and said this is something we can take momentum from, to consider in the negotiations. Now, that is not to say that what will appear in negotiations will look like, with every 'i' dotted and 't' crossed with what's in the Action Agenda, because, it won't, they're different documents.

But as I said, we can take it and take the momentum. There's a lot of interest around the world at the moment in electrification and we want to seize that for the negotiations and the Action Agenda is a very important input. But they are different processes.

There are days worth of consultations further to go here. Then there's Pre-COP in Fiji – I hope to see you there. Then there's the COP, it's a great place, you're very welcome.

And then there's the COP itself, where we'll be consulting and negotiating intensively. So, this is an important meeting, but it's not the COP, and there's much work to do yet. Thank you.

The Ministers and Executive Secretary have commitments soon but we have time for one more question. REPRESENTATIVE (OXFAM AUSTRALIA): On the Action Agenda is climate finance. I wondered if you could speak in a little bit more detail to that point and how you see that relating to the implementation focus.

Will you focus on implementation of the New Collective Quantified Goal on climate finance, or how do you see that? Could you please identify yourself? REPRESENTATIVE (OXFAM AUSTRALIA): Sorry.

Josie Lee from Oxfam Australia. Let’s go next to this lady [indistinct] let’s allow her to ask her question and then we’ll answer both of them. JOURNALIST (AFRICAN NEWS ANALYST): Hello, [indistinct] I’m with African News Analyst.

I would like to know, how do you define clean energy? You talked about renewables getting cheaper, but certain countries are also considering more nuclear power plants. And the second question is on the African continent, so far, the role of renewables is very low compared to South Asia, or, you know, even South Africa.

How would you like to accelerate electrification in Sub-Saharan Africa? Climate financing bridge. It's not new financing itself, as I've mentioned in my speech.

We are going to closely monitor the realisation of existing commitments, you know, $1.3 trillion commitment of last year, $137 billion of investment. So, fulfilling these existing commitments will be the way to go, and we need to do this in the most productive fashion. Because you're spending a resource, let's say, and you want to get the best emission reduction out of that.

That is what this bridge will serve. So, we've initiated our work in partnership with UNDP. There will be pilot implementation in some countries.

So, this is about making the best use of financing, for reducing the highest amount of emission. So, we'll bring financing with projects. But in the best way, in the most yielding way.

So, this will be very valuable, because, of course, every country has their priorities, and every government has a certain stance, a certain position, or condition, but if in totality, we want to reach net zero, and if we want to achieve the 1.5 degree target, then reducing the emission in Bonn, for example, will not be enough. You need to do it in Bonn, you need to do it in Africa, you need to do it in Europe.

So, we want to make the best use of the resource of the money and use it in the most efficient way. This is what this bridge will serve, actually. And let me elaborate on electrification further.

Renewable energy costs, dear friends, if you look at it today, compared to fossil fuels, they are, it allows you to generate an energy 50% cheaper. And this is today's number. So, today, if you're going to generate, the cost of generating one unit of energy, the cost is two times higher compared to renewable energy.

So, every day, the cost for renewable energy drops with the innovations in technology, with the number of investors increasing. And from now onwards, economies inadvertently will have to steer themselves in this direction. This will be an obligation, as a matter of fact.

Think about it. You want to generate energy? On the one hand, you have fossil fuels, on the other hand, you have renewables.

And the cost of renewables is a lot lower. So, which economy would insist on fossil fuels with that being the case? So, if we can make this technology accessible, if we can make it widespread, and if we can provide financing, channel financing properly, for this cause, then these targets will achieve themselves.

Therefore, adaptation and mitigation steps will also be under our focus. This is important because some people are asking, for example, how will electrification work? But if you're at home, let's say, or you drive an electric car.

If you look at the difference between a car working on gas, if the cost is lower, you would choose the electric one, right? Because your home also has an economy, and the country has an economy. In that regard, this is also the data from International Energy Agency, as well as IRENA's work.

When you look at all of these projects, you see 91% lower cost, with renewable energy, comparing all of these projects together. So, we're going to make this more widespread, and we aim to make access to technology easier. And electrification will happen on its own afterwards.

In China, in Türkiye it's 60% – in China, 60% of the energy is renewable. So, these are the costs. The costs are speaking for themselves, and it's our job to establish infrastructure for that, and we're going to work on it.

The NCQG was settled in – I co-facilitated that in Baku, so that was quite a big task. So, that's settled. It's now about implementation, as Murat said.

Also importantly, access to the existing finance for the most vulnerable countries who sometimes struggle to get access to, I think, particularly, obviously, Small Island Developing States, who are at the front line, but also I met yesterday with the landlocked developing countries, who have very similar issues to the Small Island Developing States, although they are geographically the opposite, the issues they're facing are exactly the same.

So, we'll be working carefully and closely with them, with multilateral development banks to ensure that we're making progress on getting access to the finance. In relation to how the electrification goal applies in different places, including Africa, I mean, that's one of the beauties of the electrification goal. Whether you're here in Germany, one of the great industrial powerhouses of Europe who's working hard to electrify industrial processes, or clean cooking in Africa, a very different task, but the same result, reducing emissions, reducing costs and a better system.

So, one of the benefits of the way that Murat has designed the Action Agenda is that it applies equally in very different contexts, and we'll be working that through in the negotiations as well. We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of country throughout Australia and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.