The most debated topic at New York Climate Week, which took place September 20–27, was not only how to reduce emissions but also how to meet rapidly growing electricity demand without building new fossil-fuel power plants. Artificial intelligence and data centers, meanwhile, were at the top of the agenda.
This year, discussions centered on the electrification of the economy, the rapid expansion of data centers, and the massive energy requirements needed to advance artificial intelligence. As electricity demand rises, the main practical challenge is how quickly supply can grow. Participants debated how this could be achieved without relying on new fossil fuel-fired power plants.
Türkiye had previously shared its electrification target—the flagship initiative of COP31’s action agenda—with the global public. The target, announced by the COP31 Presidency, aims to increase electricity’s share of final energy consumption from just over 20% to 35% by 2035.
Another key topic at Climate Week—held shortly after more than 1,500 people lost their lives in floods and flash floods triggered by a glacier collapse in Nepal—was resilience to climate disasters. Representatives from various sectors, including insurance and food production, emphasized the need to prepare for extreme weather events and their consequences, rather than focusing solely on reducing emissions.
Participants also discussed how to achieve the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels.
Murat Kurum: “We Expect Concrete and Measurable Commitments from the Business Community”
Türkiye, as COP31 President, conducted a comprehensive promotional program for the summit as part of New York Climate Week events. Additionally, the COP31 Business Forum New York Dialogue Program was co-hosted by the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Türkiye (TOBB), the COP31 Private Sector Envoy, and Bloomberg. At the program’s opening, COP31 President Murat Kurum emphasized the importance of COP31’s 2035 Global Implementation Goals, ranging from electrification to green industrialization, from Zero Waste to the Climate Implementation Bridge (CIB), and from resilient cities to food security.
In his speech, Kurum also appealed to representatives of the business community, stating, “As we head to Antalya, we expect concrete and measurable commitments from you. We want commitments with defined timelines, scopes, and indicators to be among COP31’s strong outcomes. We aim to connect projects—whose feasibility has been assessed, with clear ownership and defined financing needs—with investors. We also expect the business community to mobilize its purchasing power. Purchase commitments for green products and long-term agreements can pave the way for new production investments. The transformation must extend across the entire supply chain. We consider it important for large companies to support their SME suppliers by providing access to information, methodology, technical capacity, and financing,” he stated.
Date: 7 October 2026
