12 June 2026
Minister Murat Kurum
President of COP31 (Türkiye)
Minister Chris Bowen
President of Negotiations COP31 (Australia)
Dear COP31 President Kurum and President of Negotiations Bowen,
As organisations representing broad and diverse constituencies across Türkiye and Australia, we write with a shared vision for COP31 and a call for ambitious, inclusive leadership at this critical moment in the global response to the climate crisis.
Delivering the progress the world needs
The partnership of Türkiye, Australia and the Pacific represents a unique opportunity. Türkiye and Australia are highly fossil fuel-dependent economies that have committed to work towards a cleaner future. The Pacific is on the front lines of the climate crisis and has a long history of climate leadership. By drawing on each other’s strengths — and with an ambitious vision backed by determined diplomacy — this partnership can deliver the breakthroughs the moment demands. COP31 outcomes should:
Stop the climate crisis at the source
First and foremost, COP31 must focus on keeping alive the goal of limiting warming to 1.5°C — a survival line for communities, ecosystems and economies. This demands we address the number one cause of the climate crisis — the burning of coal, oil and gas. Building on the growing momentum from COP30, the Santa Marta conference and the Brazil Presidency roadmap initiative, COP31 must operationalise the ‘implementation era’ and accelerate the COP28 commitment to a just, orderly and equitable transition away from fossil fuels. It must also ensure real progress in halting and reversing deforestation and ecosystem degradation by 2030.
Support communities to thrive
Climate action must uphold rights, ensure fairness and deliver benefits to all. COP30 created the landmark Just Transition Mechanism, and COP31 has to turn the promise of this new mechanism into concrete action through funding, a timeline and practical detail on how it will operate. This process must be guided by strong environmental and social safeguards in line with COP30 decision 2/CMA.7 to uphold “obligations on human rights, the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, the right to health, the rights of Indigenous Peoples, local communities, migrants, children, persons with disabilities and people in vulnerable situations and the right to development, as well as gender equality, empowerment of women and intergenerational equity”. It must include securing the individual and collective rights of Indigenous Peoples to self-determination and free, prior, and informed consent.
Scale finance where it’s needed most
Progress on all pillars of climate action — mitigation, adaptation and loss and damage — depends on the adequate and accessible flow of funding between nations. COP31 must enable a step change in international climate finance, including through developed countries announcing their planned contributions to the new global climate finance goal, increases in public, grant-based finance, and making big polluters pay.
Leading by example at home
As Presidents, we urge the governments of Türkiye and Australia to lead by example through strengthening national commitments and actions, in line with each country’s responsibilities, capabilities and circumstances. Doing so will encourage other governments to raise their ambition and increase the likelihood of strong global outcomes from COP31, while also enabling Türkiye and Australia to maximise energy security and the opportunities of the global energy transition. We encourage the following commitments and actions:
Türkiye
- Establish an ambitious Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) that aligns with the 1.5°C pathway. This must include a shift from a reduction from business as usual to absolute emission reductions effective immediately. Türkiye’s NDC needs to be supported with a strategy and roadmap to transition away from fossil fuels in a just, orderly and equitable manner.
- Institute an immediate moratorium on all new coal-fired power plant investments and commit to a comprehensive, time-bound Coal Phase-Out Strategy anchored in Just Transition principles to protect workers and local economies.
- Accelerate renewable energy investments in a way that is compatible with nature and social justice; and increase energy savings and efficiency.
- Strengthen and rapidly implement adaptation policies to enhance resilience against the impacts of climate change.
- Institutionalize a multilateral, participatory governance model for climate policy making. All climate legislation and transition roadmaps must be co-created through transparent, inclusive dialogue with civil society, local communities, and marginalized groups to ensure democratic legitimacy and accountability.
Australia
- Commit to developing a national roadmap for transitioning away from fossil fuels, including phasing out of coal and gas exports in line with limiting warming to 1.5°C – with an immediate end to new projects, reducing fossil fuel demand, protecting land rights and securing economic futures for First Nations communities.
- Build regional energy security with Australia’s major energy trade partners by making a clear strategic shift from fossil fuel exports to renewable energy – working together for a coordinated, predictable, and mutually beneficial fossil fuel phase out – excluding false solutions like carbon capture and storage.
- Make an ambitious AUD$11bn five-year international climate finance commitment with dedicated funding for loss and damage, adaptation and just transitions. This should include multi-year gender-responsive funding that is accessible to NGOs and local CSOs.
- Strengthen national adaptation and just transition efforts in a way that is fair, fast and inclusive, and create a dedicated fund for First Nations communities built on self-determination, land and ocean rights.
- Support the vision of the Boe Declaration on Regional Security and the Tassiriki Call for a Fossil Fuel Free Pacific, centering the 1.5°C imperative under the Paris Agreement, reinforced through the ICJ Advisory Opinion on Climate Change and the ITLOS Advisory Opinion on Climate Change – and supported by the Framework for Resilient Development in the Pacific and the 2050 Strategy for a Blue Pacific Continent.
Ensuring an ambitious, fair and inclusive COP
COP31 is occurring amid profound global disruption and threats to the multilateral system, yet at a time when our future security and prosperity is critically dependent on greater international cooperation.
COP31 must serve to rebuild trust in the multilateral process. It must focus on ensuring states meet the obligations clarified by the International Court of Justice in its landmark 2025 advisory opinion on climate change. It must illustrate to the world that this process is about action, not just words.
This demands that the Presidency team be an honest broker, protect the integrity of the negotiations, uphold human rights and civil society participation, embrace the demands of Indigenous Peoples and local communities, and deliver a transparent and inclusive process free of fossil fuel influence. This also must involve proactive global diplomatic efforts, including collaborating across the COP30–32 Presidencies to build shared vision, momentum and outcomes and ensuring that Pacific Island countries, as hosts of Pre-COP, have a central role in shaping COP31 ambition.
We thank you for your leadership and encourage you to engage with us as civil society partners to shape ambitious, equitable, and transformative outcomes across both the COP31 negotiations and the action agenda.
Sincerely,
Signatory organisations from Türkiye, Australia and the Pacific
- Climate Network Türkiye – İklim Ağı
- Climate Action Network Australia
- 1 Million Women
- 350 Australia
- 350 Türkiye
- ActionAid Australia
- Adana Down Sendromu Derneği
- Advanced Pharmacy Australia
- ALMA
- Amnesty International Australia
- Anglican Overseas Aid
- Armaş Vakfı / Armaş Foundation
- Asians for Climate Solutions
- Australian Conservation Foundation
- Australian Council for International Development
- Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS)
- Australian Environmental Grantmakers Network (AEGN)
- Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network
- Australian Federation of Medical Women
- Australian Marine Conservation Society
- Australian Religious Response to Climate Change
- Australian Youth Climate Coalition
- Australian, New Zealand and Asian Creative Arts Therapies Association AsArts Yje
- Bass Coast Climate Action Network
- Beyond Fossil Fuels
- Beyond Zero Emissions
- Buğday Ekolojik Yaşamı Destekleme Derneği
- Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action
- Climate Action Network Europe
- Caritas Australia
- Climate Action Monaro
- Climate Action Now Signs Incorporated
- Climate and Health Alliance
- Climate CATCH Lab, University of Melbourne
- Climate Justice Coalition Australia
- Comms Declare
- Darebin Climate Action Now
- Darling Downs Environment Council
- Doctors for the Environment Australia
- Doğa / BirdLife Türkiye
- ECOMIND
- Ekolojik Dönüşüm ve Sürdürülebilir Yaşam Derneği
- Environment Centre NT
- Friends of the Earth Australia
- GetUp!
- Global Mental Health Action Network COP31 Short-Term Action Group
- Greenpeace Australia Pacific
- Greenpeace Türkiye
- Gudanji For Country Aboriginal Corporation
- Hayata Destek Derneği / Support to Life
- Healthy Connection For All
- Healthy Futures
- HUDOTO Law, Nature and Society Foundation
- İklim Değişikliği Politika ve Araştırma Derneği
- İklim Öncüleri (Climate Pioneers)
- Indigenous Allied Health Australia
- International Women’s Development Agency (IWDA)
- Jubilee Australia Research Centre
- Kadın Emeğini Değerlendirme Vakfı (OXFAM KEDV)
- Lighter Footprints
- Mekanda Adalet Derneği (MAD – Center for Spatial Justice)
- Nillumbik Climate Action Team
- Oxfam Australia
- Peoples Climate Assembly
- Plan International Australia
- Planetary Health Equity Hothouse, Australian National University
- Psychology for a Safe Climate
- Queensland Conservation Council
- Results International (Australia)
- Roots & Shoots
- Sexual Health Quarters
- Sivil Toplum Geliştirme Merkezi Derneği (STGM)
- Solar Citizens
- Sustainable Economic and Finance Association (SEFiA)
- SUSTAINATIVE
- TEMA, Türkiye Erozyonla Mücadele, Ağaçlandırma ve Doğal Varlıkları Koruma Vakfı
- Temiz Hava Hakkı Platformu (Right to Clean Air Platform) (Türkiye)
- The Australian Foundation for Wilderness (Wilderness Australia)
- The Australian Rainforest Conservation Society
- The Climate Reality Project Australia & Pacific
- The Federation of the Women Associations in Turkiye
- The Wilderness Society
- Türetim Ekonomisi Derneği
- Türkiye Üçüncü Sektör Vakfı (TÜSEV)
- Uluslararası Af Örgütü Türkiye Şubesi (Amnesty International Türkiye)
- Urban.koop: Kent Çalışmaları Kooperatifi
- Van Çevre Tarihi Eserleri Koruma Araştırma Ve Geliştirme Derneği
- Vote Earth Now
- Women’s Environmental Leadership Australia
- WWF-Australia
- WWF-Türkiye (Doğal Hayatı Koruma Vakfı)
- Yarra Climate Action Now
- Yeşil Düşünce Derneği / Green Thought Association
- YUVA
- Yuvam Dünya Derneği
