Pacific Nations lead while world leaders talk resilient cities at COP31

By Samuel Ogunsona

Pacific Nations
facing rising seas and disappearing land carried the strongest message as World leaders meet in Antalya, Turkey on Friday.

The leaders’ message about making cities stronger against climate change was strong but not as the cries of the Pacific nations for survival. Pledges can no longer wait. Time is running out.

More than 100 national leaders attended the second day of the COP31 World Leaders’ Summit, where the focus shifted from national targets to what happens in cities, where more than half of humanity now lives.

Some of the Pacific nations are Melanesia including New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna;
Micronesia which includes Guam, Northern Mariana Islands and those in
Polynesia, French Polynesia, Pitcairn Islands, Tokelau among many others.

Cities are bearing the brunt of flooding, extreme heat and failing infrastructure. For Türkiye, the host country, the issue is personal after the deadly earthquakes of 2023 and the massive rebuilding that followed.

At a high-level session on urban resilience organised by the COP31 Presidency and UN-Habitat, leaders discussed how to turn climate plans into projects that can be financed and built in 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.”

He added that cities are where implementation becomes real, in homes, infrastructure and daily energy use, and that the summit was focused on getting projects financed and built.

One of the main outcomes of the day was backing for the Antalya Compact for Energy Efficient Buildings. The compact sets two global targets for 2035: cutting the energy intensity of buildings by 25 percent and speeding up efficient electrification in buildings.

Six sustainable building projects from around the world were also recognised for showing how better design can reduce energy use. The projects were chosen through international competitions supported by Türkiye, UNEP, the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction and the Intergovernmental Council for Buildings and Climate.

On waste, the first 20 Zero Waste Districts were unveiled under the Istanbul Zero Waste Action Platform, to test waste reduction, reuse, repair and recycling at neighbourhood level. The aim is to expand to 100 districts.

To help cities move from plans to investment, COP31 also launched the Sustainable Urban Resilience Financing Facility, designed to turn resilience priorities into bankable projects and attract public and private finance.

But while leaders debated urban plans, the sharpest warning came from the Pacific.

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.”

He said the world must respond with resilience at the scale and speed the 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,” he said.

The Pacific Resilience Facility, created and owned by Pacific leaders, has now secured over $200 million in pledges for community-led adaptation. The United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, South Korea, Fiji, Papua New Guinea and the Marshall Islands were among those that announced new pledges in 2026. The Minderoo Foundation also pledged $5 million, becoming the facility’s first philanthropic donor.

Business also took centre stage. More than 600 chief executives and senior business leaders from nearly 300 organisations attended the COP31 Business Forum, focused on electrification, resilient cities and green industrialisation.

The biggest deal of the day was a renewable energy agreement between Türkiye and China. Signed with China’s National Energy Administration, the deal envisages about $15 billion in investment in Türkiye, including 7,000 megawatts of new solar and wind capacity, new storage systems and 4,000 megawatts of transmission capacity. It will also support technology transfer and local production of wind turbine equipment.

Other finance announcements included the launch of the Least Developed Countries Green Industrialization Facilitation Mechanism, to connect green projects in poor countries with technology and funding, starting with 10 pilot countries.

The Türkiye Industry Decarbonisation Investment Platform also announced projects that will receive up to $250 million from the Climate Investment Funds, as part of a plan to mobilise over $6 billion by 2030. The funds also announced up to $190 million in adaptation finance for five countries and a region under its ARISE programme.

UNEP Executive Director 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.”