Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

The Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Türkiye (TOBB) has been appointed as the “COP31 Private Sector Envoy” to coordinate the participation of the global business community during the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP31), which will be held in Antalya November 9–20 this year under Türkiye’s hosting. At a meeting held at the TOBB Twin Towers, hosted by M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu and attended by Minister of Environment, Urbanization, and Climate Change Murat Kurum, the COP31 Business Forum was introduced as part of this initiative to ensure the sustained and institutional participation of businesses worldwide in the process.

The meeting was attended by representatives business organizations such as TÜSİAD, MÜSİAD, DEİK, YASED, TİM, TBB, TİSK, and TÜRKONFED, as well as chambers of commerce and stock exchanges, and large-scale holding companies and firms in Türkiye.

- The goal is to reach more than 45 million businesses

The Forum will collaborate with major global and regional networks such as the ICC (International Chamber of Commerce), the ICC World Chambers Federation, Eurochambres, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, DIHK, CACCI, PACCI, and AICO. Through this structure, the Forum aims to collaborate with over 1,000 chambers and private-sector organizations worldwide and, through umbrella organizations, reach more than 45 million businesses. The Forum seeks to bring together developed and developing economies, large industrial firms, and SMEs on a common platform, with the goal of ensuring the Global South’s strong participation in the process.

In his remarks on the matter, TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu emphasized that the Forum’s primary objective is to transform the private sector’s engagement with the COP process a fragmented structure reliant on individual initiatives into a permanent institution. Noting that the Forum was designed to serve as an institutional legacy that can be passed on to future COP presidencies, Hisarcıklıoğlu stated, “The fight against climate change is no longer merely an environmental issue; it is also the industrial and competitive struggle of the 21^st century. Whoever sets the standards for the green transition - its factories, supply chains, and standards - will also determine this century’s industrial hierarchy.  ”Until now, the private sector’s relationship with the COP process has been fragmented and dependent on the individual initiatives of individual companies. We are launching this Forum to transform this relationship into a permanent, institutional, and highly representative structure; to systematically bring the voice of the business community into the process,” he said.

-”The green transition should be viewed not as a cost item, but as a tool for development.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that the green transition should be viewed not as a cost item but as a tool for competitiveness and development, adding that for Türkiye - which imports approximately 70 percent of its energy - energy efficiency and renewable energy are not a choice but a macroeconomic necessity.

The roadmap prepared by TOBB is designed as a three-phase process spanning one year: establish, transfer, and hand over. Following the kickoff meeting on June 3, consultations with the global business community will take place during London Climate Action Week on June 22-23 and New York Climate Week on September 22-27; the process will culminate at the COP31 Business and Investment Summit to be held on November 12-13 at Antalya Blue Zone. Following the summit, the Forum will monitor the commitments and formally hand over the framework to the next COP presidency.

- Eight working groups will focus on implementation

The Forum’s work will be carried out through eight thematic working groups aligned with the COP31 Action Agenda. These groups will focus on areas that the business community considers critical for implementation: Green Industrialization; Climate Finance; Electrification and the New Economy; Green Energy and Grid Infrastructure; Agriculture, Food, and Water; SMEs - Adaptation and Transformation; Climate Technologies and Artificial Intelligence; and Startups. The outcomes of the working groups and the Summit Declaration will be shared transparently with the public and submitted as structured contributions to the COP31 Presidency and UNFCCC processes.

Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that he will leverage the global network he has built through international roles such as the presidency of the World Chambers Federation and his membership on the ICC Board of Directors to strengthen the Forum. Referring to the B20 process led by Türkiye during its 2015 G20 Presidency - which was widely recognized internationally as “the most effective” - the President expressed his confidence that the same success could be replicated at COP31. TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “Even though more than ten years have passed, our counterparts still tell us, ‘You had the best B20.’ Now, by repeating that success, we will leave Türkiye’s and the Turkish private sector’s mark on the COP process.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that COP31 must be transformed into a historic opportunity to restore and strengthen investors’ positive outlook on Türkiye, inviting all holding companies, firms, and sectoral organizations to participate in the process not as observers but as active stakeholders. Hisarcıklıoğlu also expressed his gratitude for the private-sector-friendly and solution-oriented approach of the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization, and Climate Change.

- Minister of Environment, Urbanization, and Climate Change Kurum

Minister of Environment, Urbanization, and Climate Change and COP31 President Murat Kurum also stated in his speech, “We view COP31 not only as an international summit but also as a turning point where our real sector will demonstrate its capacity for green transformation to the world.”

In his speech at the “COP31 Business Forum—Turkish Business Community Consultation Meeting,” Minister Kurum said: “Today, we are taking our strong collaboration to a whole new level. We are rolling up our sleeves together to leave our business community’s mark on COP31. The process that brings us together around this table today began last March with Mr. Hisarcıklıoğlu’s request for TOBB to serve as the business community’s representative at COP31. We welcomed this request with great enthusiasm and promptly appointed him to the official representative role. Throughout this process, TOBB will establish the priorities of our business community and build a national stakeholder base to encourage participation in the COP31 process. It will also coordinate this critical process by building bridges among stakeholders. Each of these tasks is extremely important and valuable.”

- “We propose dialogue, consensus, and action to the entire world”

Minister Kurum stated that the business community’s active participation in the COP31 process means actively shaping the roadmap for the “green transition” through stakeholder collaboration, ensuring that Türkiye and Turkish industry directly establish the rules of this new order on the ground, and contributing to the policy-making process by sitting side by side at the table rather than merely observing global actors afar.

“We view COP31 not only as an international summit but also as a turning point where our real sector will demonstrate its capacity for green transformation to the world,” said Kurum, explaining that TOBB’s national and global network of chambers of commerce and stock exchanges, its strong institutional capacity, experience, sector councils, and access to SMEs are indispensable in this process.