WORLD LEADERS AT COP31 FOCUS ON BUILDING RESILIENT CITIES
Intiqab Rawoof
November 13, 2026
Over 100 national leaders came together on the second day of the COP31 World Leaders’ Summit to accelerate action and investment in more resilient and sustainable cities.
More than half of the world’s population lives in cities, where communities face growing climate risks, including flooding, extreme heat and infrastructure damage. Türkiye brings hard-won experience to the challenge of building resilient cities following its reconstruction efforts after the devastating earthquakes in 2023.
Against this backdrop, leaders focused today on translating national climate ambition into stronger and safer cities. At the High-Level Dialogue on Urban Resilience, Adaptation and Climate Action, convened by the COP31 Presidency and UN-Habitat, leaders examined how to move national climate and adaptation plans towards practical investment in cities and communities.
COP31 President Murat Kurum said: “Climate action has to deliver where people live. It means safer communities, more efficient homes, stronger infrastructure and better protection from the impacts of a changing climate.”
“Cities are where that implementation becomes real – in the homes people live in, the infrastructure they depend on and the energy they use every day. Today, leaders have focused on getting projects financed, built, and delivering for communities.”
“By bringing governments, cities, investors and businesses together in Antalya, we can move faster from ambition to action and make climate progress visible in people’s everyday lives.”
Accelerating resilient cities
Buildings are a key part of delivering more resilient and sustainable cities. The COP31 Presidency has focused global discussions on the Antalya Compact for Energy Efficient Buildings, which highlights measures to accelerate more efficient and electrified buildings.
The Compact addresses two COP31 Presidency Global Targets for 2035: pursuing a 25% reduction in the operational energy intensity of the global building stock and accelerating efficient electrification in buildings in support of the Presidency’s 35-by-35 target.
COP31 also recognised six leading sustainable building projects around the world, showcasing how better design and energy performance can cut consumption and deliver more efficient buildings in practice. The winners were selected through two international competitions designed by Türkiye and supported by the UNEP-hosted Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction, in coordination with the Intergovernmental Council for Buildings and Climate (ICBC).
Cities are also putting COP31’s zero-waste agenda into practice. Following the launch of the Istanbul Zero Waste Action Platform, the first international Zero Waste Districts are testing approaches to waste reduction, reuse, repair and recycling at neighbourhood scale, while measuring results including avoided methane emissions. The opening cohort comprises twenty districts with the aim of scaling towards 100 districts.
The focus on turning urban plans into investment also extends through COP31’s Sustainable Urban Resilience Financing Facility (SURFF), which will help countries and cities turn resilience priorities into investment-ready projects, mobilise public and private finance and strengthen local implementation capacity.
Investment backs COP31’s implementation push
The COP31 Business Forum opened today, bringing together more than 600 CEOs and senior business leaders from nearly 300 organisations with a focus on accelerating private-sector action and investment across electrification, resilient cities and green industrialization.
The investment push was underscored by a major new renewable energy agreement between Türkiye and the People’s Republic of China. Signed with China’s National Energy Administration, the agreement envisages approximately $15 billion in investment in Türkiye, including 7,000 MW of new solar and wind capacity, new energy storage systems, and 4,000 MW of electricity transmission capacity. It will also support technology transfer and the production of wind turbine equipment in Türkiye.
The COP31 Presidency launched the Least Developed Countries Green Industrialization Facilitation Mechanism (LDC-GIF), connecting green industrial projects in LDCs with technology, technical support and finance. Led by Türkiye with the UN Technology Bank for LDCs as Secretariat, the mechanism launched with ten pilot countries alongside international organisations and multilateral development banks.
The Türkiye Industry Decarbonisation Investment Platform (TIDIP) also announced projects that will receive up to $250 million from the Climate Investment Funds (CIF), supporting the platform’s aim to mobilise more than $6 billion by 2030. CIF also announced up to $190 million in adaptation finance for five countries and a region to support the translation of climate risk into coherent, finance-ready economic investments, as part of its Accelerating Resilience Investments and Innovations for Sustainable Economies (ARISE) programme.
Pacific nations are not waiting for change, they are leading it
The Pacific is not waiting for the world to act. As rising seas and a changing climate reshape their region, Pacific communities are drawing on ancestral knowledge, science and ingenuity to strengthen resilience and shape their own futures. Pacific nations are advancing Pacific-led solutions with a clear message: what happens in the Pacific matters for the world.
COP31 President of Negotiations Chris Bowen said: “Climate change is an existential threat to the Pacific. It is already putting lives, livelihoods, cultures and the future of nations at risk.”
“The world must respond by building resilience at the scale and speed this crisis demands, backed by accessible finance and practical action.”
“Pacific nations are not only on the front line of climate change. They are leading with lived experience, deep knowledge and solutions from which the world can learn.”
“Pacific voices must be at the centre of global decisions. When the Pacific leads, the world benefits.”
Created by Pacific leaders, the Pacific Resilience Facility (PRF) is the first Pacific-led, owned and managed fund dedicated to financing community-centred adaptation and resilience across Pacific Island countries. The Facility has now secured more than $200 million in pledges, with the United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, the Republic of Korea, Fiji, Papua New Guinea and the Republic of the Marshall Islands among those announcing new pledges in 2026. At COP31, the Minderoo Foundation became the PRF’s first philanthropic donor, pledging $5 million and broadening the coalition of partners backing Pacific-led resilience.
The announcement underscored a wider message from leaders in Antalya today: climate implementation must translate into finance and practical action that reaches communities.
Supporting Quotes
Executive Director, UN Environment Programme, Inger Andersen said: “The Antalya Compact marks an important step towards making energy-efficient, resilient buildings the global standard. But the window to transform the buildings sector is narrowing, and the pace of action must accelerate. Governments must now turn this commitment into policies, investment and solutions that cut emissions, lower energy bills and deliver lasting benefits for people and the planet.”
United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN-Habitat, Anacláudia Rossbach said: “Countries have made important climate commitments. Now it is time to deliver. A large part of the answer lies in cities, where decisions on housing, transport, land and basic services shape both emissions and people’s ability to withstand climate shocks. Prioritizing adequate housing, transforming informal settlements and slums, and strengthening urban resilience must be central to climate action if we are to build a more sustainable and inclusive future.”
Chief Executive Officer of Climate Investment Funds, Tariye Gbadegesin said: “The extraordinary demand for ARISE shows that countries are not waiting to act on climate resilience. They have investment plans, priorities, and a clear vision for protecting their economies and communities. What is often missing is the catalytic finance needed to turn those priorities into investable opportunities at scale. ARISE is designed to help bridge that gap and create the conditions for much larger flows of public and private investment in resilience.”
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