Samed Ağırbaş, President of the Zero Waste Foundation and COP31 High-Level Climate Champion, focused on strengthening international collaborations for the COP31 process with his intense diplomacy traffic conducted within the scope of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum 2026. During the contacts, moving the zero waste approach to a more effective implementation ground globally and producing concrete outputs from climate action came to the fore.
The Zero Waste Foundation, in line with the vision and auspices of First Lady Emine Erdoğan, Founder of the Zero Waste Movement, Chair of the United Nations Advisory Board of Eminent Persons on Zero Waste, and Honorary President of the Zero Waste Foundation, continues to carry the environmental gains achieved in Türkiye to international platforms. During the contacts in Antalya, topics such as just transition, climate finance, and supporting disadvantaged groups were specifically centered.
"Special Efforts Will Be Carried Out for Disadvantaged Groups"
In his meeting with Laurent Fabius, former Prime Minister of France and President of COP21, Ağırbaş emphasized that the Zero Waste Movement had found a global response before the United Nations as of 2022.
Sharing his observations in Kibera, located in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, Ağırbaş stated that the impacts of the climate crisis are felt most by vulnerable communities, and expressed that special efforts will be carried out for these segments during the United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP31) process.
During the meeting between Ağırbaş and Fabius, it was emphasized that the most critical topic of the post-Paris Agreement period is "implementation and acceleration," and it was agreed that multilateral cooperation needs to be strengthened.
"The Era of Implementation, No Longer Promises"
In his assessment regarding the meeting, Ağırbaş clearly set the direction of the process:
"We are now focusing on a period where not just promises, but concrete results and climate finance come to the fore. With COP31, we aim to transition to an implementation process that produces real impact."
Emphasis on COP29–COP31 Continuity
In the meeting with Mukhtar Babayev, Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan and President of COP29, ensuring continuity between the COP processes stood out.
The parties;
• Access to climate finance
• Supporting developing countries
• Energy transition
• Expanding circular economy practices
agreed on strengthening cooperation under these headings.
Ağırbaş emphasized that joint projects with Azerbaijan will be advanced with concrete steps.
Local Development and Nature-Based Solutions
In meetings with officials from the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), the relationship between land, water, and food security was discussed.
At the meeting;
• The role of local governments
• Community-based solutions
• The zero waste approach reducing the pressure on land
such topics stood out.
"Private Sector at the Center of Climate Action"
In the meeting held with John Denton, Secretary General of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the decisive role of the private sector in climate action was emphasized.
Ağırbaş expressed that the business world must be more actively involved in the process to increase green investments, make projects bankable, and achieve a sustainable transformation of trade.
COP31: A Strategic Turning Point for Türkiye
In his assessment made at the panel attended by Murat Kurum, Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, Ağırbaş drew attention to the critical importance of COP31 to be hosted by Türkiye:
"COP31 is a historic turning point that will crown Türkiye's proactive role in climate diplomacy. This summit will contribute not only to our national goals but also to a sustainable future on a global scale."
Multi-Stakeholder Diplomacy and Global Impact
The contacts carried out within the scope of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum were not limited solely to environmental policies;
• sustainable development
• climate justice
• resource efficiency
they contributed to strengthening a holistic approach shaped around these axes.
In the meetings where the social and economic impacts of the Zero Waste approach as well as its environmental aspects were highlighted, increasing international collaborations and transforming existing initiatives into concrete results on the ground emerged as the main goal.
Emphasis on Global Responsibility
The diplomacy traffic in Antalya once again demonstrated that the Zero Waste vision has gone beyond being a national environmental policy and turned into a global transformation movement.
These contacts carried out in the process leading up to COP31 carry the nature of a strong international declaration of will that the climate crisis must be acted upon with an awareness of shared responsibility.
