Co-operation on climate change could provide the cure to current political turmoil., according to United Nations climate change executive secretary Simon Stiell.
Speaking in Istanbul alongside incoming COP31 president Murat Kurum of Turkiye, Stiell said: “We find ourselves in a new world disorder. This is a period of instability and insecurity. Of strong arms and trade wars. The very concept of international co-operation is under attack.
“But climate action can deliver stability in an unstable world. Climate cooperation is an antidote to the chaos and coercion of this moment, and clean energy is the obvious solution to spiralling fossil fuel costs.”
He pointed to huge progress that has taken place in the past year.
“In the decade since Paris, clean energy investment is up tenfold – from $200-billion to over $2-trillion a year.
“And, in 2025, amidst all the economic uncertainty and gale-force political headwinds, the global transition kept surging forward: Clean energy investment kept growing strongly, and was more than double that of fossil fuels.
“Renewables overtook coal as the world’s top electricity source.”
This real economic change built on progress in international climate negotiations and through national action,” Stiell said. “The majority of countries produced new national climate plans that will help drive their economic growth up and – for the first time – global emissions down.
“At COP30: a trillion dollars for clean grids, and major investments in forest protection, climate health, and much more.”
COP30 also saw significant momentum in intergovernmental negotiations, including an agreement to triple adaptation finance to $120-billion a year by 2035, which will benefit African nations, as well as agreement on indicators to measure this progress.
Looking ahead to COP31 in Antalya, Turkiye, and COP32 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Stiell highlighted a four-point plan for progress:
- Rapidly scaling up a global pipeline of clean energy and climate resilience projects and match making between countries, companies, and investors at coming COPs.
- “Hyper-charging the flow of finance” especially to developing countries, and all across Africa, ensuring countries have the support they need to deliver climate plans.
- Building momentum through “coalitions of the willing” working on initiatives including roadmaps to transition away from fossil fuels and halt deforestation.
- Moving the work of UN Climate Change closer to the real economy and working with Parties to improve climate negotiations