Environmental Audit Committee
Oral evidence: Prospects for UNFCCC COP31, HC 745
Monday 26 October 2026
Ordered by the House of Commons to be published on 26 October 2026.
Environmental Audit Committee members present: Mr Toby Perkins (Chair); Barry Gardiner; Sarah Gibson; Sojan Joseph; Dr Roz Savage; John Whitby.
Energy Security and Net Zero Committee member present: Bill Esterson.
Questions 1-23
Witnesses
I: Osman Koray Ertaş, Ambassador of the Republic of Türkiye to the United Kingdom; and Jay Weatherill, Australian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.
Witnesses: Osman Koray Ertaş and Jay Weatherill.
Q1 Chair: Welcome, everyone, to this special meeting of the Environmental Audit Committee ahead of the forthcoming series of COP31 panel events. We are pleased to have strong panels with us today, the first of which features the Ambassador of the Republic of Türkiye and the Australian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. Gentlemen, I invite you to introduce yourselves, and I thank you for your attendance. We will start with you, Your Excellency, Mr Weatherill.
Jay Weatherill: My name is Jay Weatherill. I am Australia’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.
Osman Koray Ertaş: I am Osman Koray Ertaş, the Ambassador of Türkiye to London.
Q2 Chair: Thank you for coming to see us. You both want to set the scene briefly before we head into the questions ahead of COP31. We will start with you, Ambassador Ertaş.
Osman Koray Ertaş: Thank you very much, hon. Chair and distinguished Members. It is a great pleasure for me to be here with my distinguished colleague. With Australia, I think we have come up with an innovative approach to COP processes, which is vital at a time when multilateralism is being challenged in a dramatic way, in many senses. Over the past 10 years, after we ratified the Paris agreement, and for about three decades before that, we have made a lot of commitments. We now have strong acquis, so the important thing is implementation—it is time to implement what we have committed to. Geopolitics is getting tougher, and we are losing public support in some countries, so we have to lead COP in such a way as to have public support and to focus on implementation and, as much as possible, on consensus, bringing together the different interests of different parties. We look forward to working with the UK and the UK Parliament, as it is a leading country on climate issues. We look forward to hosting some of you in Antalya.
Jay Weatherill: Thank you, Chair and Committee members. Thank you for the invitation to speak to the Committee. It is a great pleasure to be here alongside my colleague, the Turkish Ambassador. We are really honoured to lead the COP31 negotiations alongside Türkiye as the host and president. We share the view for ambitious and practical outcomes in line with the Paris agreement.
Australia comes to the role after undergoing a pretty major clean energy transformation. In just six years, we have doubled the share of renewables in our electricity mix to almost 50%, with a goal of 82% by 2030. One in three Australian households now has rooftop solar. In my former role as Premier of South Australia, I was also co-chair of the Climate Group’s States and Regions Alliance, and I saw at first hand how Governments, together with business, sub-national government and communities, can work together to accelerate the transition and seize the economic opportunities that exist.
We are interested in COP31 having the same focus on practical delivery, partnership and inclusion, particularly for the Pacific region. We think the UK will be an important partner for us in sharing that climate objective. We are delighted that Prime Minister Burnham plans to attend COP31, building on the UK’s continued international climate leadership, and that Foreign Secretary Miliband is strongly engaged on climate issues in his new role. By working together, we think we can confront the global challenge of climate change and seize the economic opportunities. That is the promise of COP31, and we are very keen to realise it.
Q3 Chair: Thank you very much. Ambassador Ertaş, this approach, with two nations combining to lead the COP negotiations, is without precedent. Can you explain, from Türkiye’s perspective, how this came about and how you anticipate the two countries working together to host and co-lead these important negotiations?
Osman Koray Ertaş: Australia is leading the pre-COP arrangements, the preparations and the negotiations. We are serving as the COP31 President, and obviously we lead the Action Agenda, which is a vital portion of the larger conference, as you all know.
As a matter of fact, it is an effort to bring different countries with different interests to the same table in their shared interests. Being two nations in different parts of the world, with different interests, challenges and development levels, means that we are bringing different aspects to the fore. Australia being in a different part of the world is quite helpful for the voice of the Pacific islands to be heard. We recently concluded the pre-COP summit in Tuvalu and Fiji. This is the second time that has happened, as they hosted a similar summit a decade ago. Türkiye sits on the Mediterranean basin, which is quite a stressful region in terms of the climate challenge. We bring different challenges, but we serve the same objective.
From day one, not only at the official and governmental level but at the societal level, we have been working in very close contact. Our youth champions and younger leaders on the climate agenda are actively engaging with one another. We have been working since January, and the official meetings started in February in Istanbul. There have been some critical benchmarks in Bonn, at London Climate Action Week and in New York. At all those events, we managed to get away from our differences and focus on issues of consensus and compatibility. So far, it has been working quite well from our perspective.
Q4 Chair: You reflect on the different contexts that your nations face, in terms of your geographical position and the challenges. It is right to reflect on the recent appalling floods in Türkiye. Our hearts go out to your compatriots who are dealing with that; we send them our sympathy.
At previous COPs, we have seen the host nation drive an agenda around a particular area. Last year, it was deforestation. You rightly identified the important case of the Pacific islands, which were a strong part of Australia’s push. I will ask you for your perspective first, Ambassador Ertaş, and then I will go to the High Commissioner. Do you feel there have been tensions in that relationship, or are you entirely comfortable with where these negotiations will be starting from?
Osman Koray Ertaş: They are going very positively. Obviously, things will be clearer as we get closer to the summit—we are very much closer—but up until now, when we had the stocktake, things had gone pretty smoothly. Also, the pre-COP event in Tuvalu and Fiji was an important alignment. We hope we will continue to carry the flag from our forebears, and we will pass the baton to the next country to host the summit. Overall, as I say, it is a positive engagement that is yielding positive results.
This is also enabling us to talk to different continents and cultures at the same time. Türkiye has its own special connections with different geographies, including the middle east, Africa, the Caucasus, the Black sea and the Balkans. Similarly, Australia, as my colleague would attest, has specific connections and ties with different regions, especially in Asia and the larger western world. Being different but connected parties is helping us to convey the same message to different geographies, cultures and interests.
Q5 Chair: I invite you to respond, High Commissioner. Obviously, we are all conscious of the discussions at COP30 about where it would be hosted. Ultimately, we have this unprecedented arrangement of Türkiye being the host and Australia being president of negotiations. Are you comfortable that the issues that Australia raised at COP30—the reasons why it wanted to be the host nation—will be adequately covered? Are you comfortable with where the negotiations are at the moment?
Jay Weatherill: Yes, we are. Because it is an innovative arrangement, we have spent a lot of time making sure that we are aligned. We are aligned on the fundamentals: a shared commitment to multilateralism, strong COP31 outcomes and advancing the objectives of the Paris agreement. Those fundamental alignments are important. Türkiye has accommodated the specific matters that we wanted to advance—in particular, our focus on the Pacific nations and being a voice for the Pacific in international relations.
Ultimately, the success of all this depends on making sure that we bring to the table as many interests as we possibly can. In a sense, Australia and Türkiye having to resolve and find common ground on these matters is a precondition to our being able to do that across all the countries that will attend this conference—it has been a good starting point. Our differences in geography, interests and levels of influence have proven to be a strength rather than a challenge, and that will help us as we move into the negotiations.
Q6 Chair: In his third letter to parties, the Turkish Presidency concluded: “The challenges before us are considerable, but so are the opportunities.” From your perspective, High Commissioner, what are the key challenges to delivering the practical, inclusive and ambitious outcomes that led us all here?
Jay Weatherill: The context is tricky, of course. We have a challenging environment internationally, including global energy shocks. On energy security, economic resilience and climate action, we are having to grapple with a different world from the one we had a little while ago, with all these weather conditions: the record-breaking heatwaves, the floods in Nepal, the wildfires and a supercharged El Niño. All those things are concentrating minds. Also, the middle east is making sure that energy transition is a powerful issue. It could not be more urgent, but things are making it harder to do.
These are big challenges, but electrification and clean energy represent opportunities to grapple with some of the emerging challenges. Energy independence is becoming a significant matter in the considerations of many nations. In that regard, pursuing electrification and renewable energy provides an opportunity, not just a challenge. Also, on a broader level, at a time when there is pressure on multilateral institutions, actually demonstrating that they can work would send a powerful message to the world. This is quintessentially an issue that requires international co-operation to resolve. We must make this multinational arrangement work, and if we can demonstrate that it can work on this very challenging issue, it may form a pattern for a lot of other challenges.
Q7 Chair: Your Excellency, Ambassador Ertaş, how far do you feel that discussions in the lead-up to COP have been driven by this year’s global energy disruption?
Osman Koray Ertaş: This is certainly a fundamental issue. We need to convince public opinion in our respective countries, and international actors, that green transition is not a rival of energy independence and energy security. Those two major issues support each other. Once we lose public opinion, Governments lose steam and do not focus on these issues any more. We are trying to build on the existing consensus that we have agreed upon in the last five years, and we are trying to implement more.
One major issue is the lack of funding and finance. One of our priorities, in our six Action Agenda items, is to identify the needs of countries, transform them into bankable projects and link them to available finance mechanisms at both the national and international level. The world is becoming more conflictual and volatile. We should not let the climate agenda be on the back burner rather than the front seat. On our end, as a country that is a net energy importer and sits in a very volatile part of the world, we continue to underline the importance of a green transition, eventually reaching net zero, and transforming our economy and energy systems with a specific and special emphasis on electrification.
Q8 Chair: The UK’s Foreign Secretary recently said that climate and nature loss represent an urgent national security issue. Indeed, I think he shared with many international partners the UK Government’s findings on the national security threat posed by climate and nature loss. Do you agree with that? To what extent will that drive the discussions we have in Antalya?
Osman Koray Ertaş: As a matter of fact, the COP31 President, who is also our Minister of Environment and Urbanisation, made a similar remark. We are understandably investing a lot in the defence industry; as NATO countries, there are benchmarks and objectives that we all want to achieve. In the meantime, climate challenges are also national security issues. Unfortunately, we have seen that quite clearly in recent years: the recent floods in Istanbul and Nepal, and even the wildfires in Wales, which are unexpected in this country. We also have to invest heavily in our climate security and climate change objectives.
Jay Weatherill: We certainly share the Foreign Secretary’s analysis. Speaking as a voice for the Pacific island nations, this represents an existential threat to them. It has pretty substantial implications for the movement of peoples in our region, which itself creates pressures and strains that have national security implications. We share the Foreign Secretary’s analysis.
Q9 Barry Gardiner: Could you both elaborate on what you feel is coming out of the CBD COP in Yerevan at the moment, in terms of the strides made on nature loss? How ought that to feed into COP31? Perhaps you could reflect on your hopes and expectations for the CBD COP outcomes transitioning into COP31, on the issues of nature loss and ecological collapse, as our Foreign Secretary spoke about.
Osman Koray Ertaş: We have established 10 priority items for our summit, and one of the items is to do with the Rio convention synergies. We value these linkages between the three Rio conventions, and obviously the event in Armenia is quite critical in that regard. We are fully on board in support of their ambitions, both on the desertification and biodiversity agendas. There will be strong connections between us and the other Rio convention efforts and objectives.
Jay Weatherill: I support the Turkish Ambassador’s observations.
Q10 Sarah Gibson: Thank you both for joining us. Ambassador, you have already outlined one of your objectives. For both of you, what are your key objectives from COP31?
Osman Koray Ertaş: We have identified 10 priority items and six global goals. Those six global goals are tangible and measurable. The first priority is electrification and the clean energy transition. We have offered parties an ambitious electrification target of 35% by 2035. That is to increase electricity’s share of global final energy consumption to 35%.
The second priority is about zero waste and methane reduction. We aim to reduce the projected increase in global municipal waste generation by at least 50% by 2035. That will also support our efforts to reduce methane emissions and promote a circular economy.
The third objective is to do with climate resilient cities. We aim to reduce energy use intensity in buildings by at least 25% by 2035. We have designed some specific proposals and projects, which we offered to parties.
Fourthly, we are focusing on green industrialisation as an important theme. We aim to increase the global circular material use rate to at least 15% by 2035. We believe that countries should not have to choose between decarbonisation and deindustrialisation, and if we can achieve the green transition, it will support economic growth, employment and competitiveness, and we will continue to have strong public backing for our policies.
The fifth priority is to do with youth and education. We want climate awareness and the concrete objective is to integrate climate education into our national curricula by 2030 and achieve climate action education for all by 2035.
The sixth and final priority, which is tangible, is about finance. We plan to initiate a climate implementation bridge. This is not a new fund but an effort to bring together countries’ needs on the green transition, convert them into bankable projects and link with available finance sources. That has been developed in co-operation with UNDP.
On all these six pillars, we have worked with international organisations. For example, on electrification, we worked quite closely with IRENA and the International Energy Agency. On zero waste and food security, we have been working with the FAO. On climate awareness, we are working with UNESCO. In addition to the six pillars, there will also be a focus on food security, on oceans and seas and on resilient health systems. This is the overall focus of the Action Agenda. As I say, there will be complementary and supporting initiatives that will allow parties to achieve these objectives.
Jay Weatherill: We share and support Türkiye’s ambitions in that regard. Australia’s ambitions are very much focused on implementation. We want practical measures that accelerate the delivery of the Paris agreement and the four broad priorities that are accelerating the global clean energy transition: improving access to finance, facilitating investment, growing the global green industry and elevating Pacific priorities. On clean energy, we see electrification backed by modern grids, energy storage and investment as fundamental. It is climate policy, but it is also increasingly sound economic and energy security policy. We want COP31 to deliver outcomes that help countries access climate finance and attract investment to strengthen resilience and build modern, low-emissions industries.
For the Pacific, that includes access to predictable, non-debt-creating finance. The Pacific Resilience Facility is a practical example of Pacific leadership. It emerged from the Pacific nations themselves. We are proud to support it and very grateful for the UK’s contribution of £10 million to that facility.
Australia and Pacific island countries have also agreed on an access to climate finance for SIDS and LDCs statement and action plan, which was launched at the pre-COP. That plan sets out a collective vision to improve the way vulnerable communities can access that climate finance. UK support and leadership in that area have been critical in advancing those objectives.
Q11 Sarah Gibson: You have mentioned finance and leadership. Is there anything else that either of you feels that the UK could be doing to support you arriving at what is in those objectives?
Osman Koray Ertaş: The UK is a critical partner, especially on the finance pillar, not only because London is the second most important financial centre in the world but because of the UK’s expertise in turning targets into bankable projects. So we are working very closely, both at governmental level and with the financial institutions here, to try to offer these instruments to countries, especially in the least developed world. There are some financial mechanisms, such as the Sustainable Urban Resilience Financing Facility. If we can achieve this together with the LDC Technology Bank, and the UN in Istanbul, we will continue to bring fresh capital to some bankable projects in the least developed countries.
The UK will be quite active in three or four events during COP. One is about methane reduction. Another has to do with deforestation. We will also co-chair an event on green industrialisation. All those things are fundamental to the larger climate agenda. And this thing is not a one-off effort. Once Türkiye hands over the Presidency, we will continue to follow these priorities and continue to work together with the UK. On a national level, I was planning to use some figures if you have any questions on what we are doing nationally, but we will do the first offshore wind tender in Türkiye, and on this also we are working quite closely with UK partners, both official partners and on the business side.
We look forward to our ongoing co-operation with the UK in having this green transition and agenda success.
Jay Weatherill: The UK could assist us, in our role of heading the negotiations, to finalise the rules to transition the long-standing adaptation fund from the Kyoto protocol to the Paris agreement. On adaptation finance, we are focused on cutting red tape and helping existing climate finance deliver greater impact and reach communities when and where it is needed. For the Pacific, adaptation and resilience are immediate challenges, and the new Pacific Resilience Facility is a Pacific-driven initiative that is about creating that fast, predictable, non-debt-creating finance for the likes of water security projects, disaster preparedness, resilient agriculture, early warning systems and nature-based solutions. The UK has made a contribution to that, but it could also make a contribution to the rules that allow it to be accessed and it would assist us in our negotiations if it supported us in that.
Q12 Sarah Gibson: That is very helpful; it is good to know where we should be pushing. In terms of the ongoing Presidency, how are you working with the Brazilian COP30 Presidency and any other previous presidencies to ensure that continuity?
Osman Koray Ertaş: From early on, beginning in January, we established close contact with the team that is delivering on the Brazilian COP. We strongly support its priorities, especially on deliverables. There are certain agenda items that the Brazilian Presidency is still monitoring, and it will update the conference parties in Antalya, especially about transitioning away from fossil fuels. As you will remember, Brazil has worked on a road map for transitioning away from fossil fuels following discussions at COP30 and we look forward to hearing where they are on that.
Obviously, Brazil’s position as a sizeable middle power that has connections with different geographies is valuable for us. As a nation that is part of the larger European reality and also has strong connections with the Global South, Türkiye will continue to have strong bonds to bring different parties together at the table.
Jay Weatherill: I think we have both been assisted by the previous COP arrangement. We draw on the knowledge of people who have hosted COP to maintain that continuity and learn how to conduct our roles.
Q13 John Whitby: Following the previous COP, the Brazilian Presidency promised road maps on both transitioning away from fossil fuels and deforestation. Will those road maps be produced before COP31?
Osman Koray Ertaş: What was achieved at the Brazilian COP will be specifically followed by us as well. There were six different axes at the outcome of the Brazilian COP and our priorities perfectly fit in the decisions on the six different axes. Obviously, transitioning away is one of the most difficult topics; many countries are having reservations on that, but we will continue to bring together the interests and the concerns of different parties.
We acknowledge that every country has different starting points and needs, especially in the field of energy, so we will try to somehow respond as much as we can to the different needs of different parties. For sure, we will continue to work with Brazil to deliver these commitments.
Q14 John Whitby: I appreciate that the transition away from fossil fuels is going to be difficult, but deforestation did not figure in your list of priorities. Is there a reason for that?
Osman Koray Ertaş: Deforestation is also an important agenda item for us. Obviously, the letter from the COP31 President is not an exhaustive list. We tried to continue with what the Brazilian COP Presidency did and there will be specific events in Antalya focusing on deforestation. It is a fundamental issue for our agenda item as well.
Jay Weatherill: I suppose there is a challenge in transitioning away from fossil fuels, but it is probably worth remembering that before Paris, the world was heading towards 4°C warming and now we are projected to reach 2.6°C. That is still not enough, but it is an achievement.
In relation to the road maps committed to during the Brazilian Presidency, the expectation is that they will be published before COP31. We are looking forward to that. We do not have direct control over the release of those, but that is our expectation and we are certainly looking forward to it.
Q15 John Whitby: The Turkish Presidency’s third letter to parties highlights the importance of tackling methane emissions, but focuses only on waste. Why are even more significant sources of methane such as fossil fuels or even livestock not mentioned?
Osman Koray Ertaş: We should have a holistic approach on methane reduction—not only the food waste, but also major emitters on the methane side. Zero waste is much more than a waste management policy at our end. It is a vision that encourages us to rethink how we produce, consume and use our limited resources.
Globally, around one third of the food produced today is lost or wasted. It accounts for an estimated 8% to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions. The specific focus on zero waste does not mean we are not focusing on the vital part of methane emissions. As a matter of fact, the UK is leading a debate on this subject in Antalya with our strong support. On a national level, this zero waste initiative has gained momentum, beginning in 2017, and it has been an emblematic example of how green transition can be achieved in a particular context, where you can start from scratch, from zero, all the way to modern limits. Today, for example, the waste recovery rate in Türkiye is about 37%. It was only about 10% when the project started. We have achieved almost $8 billion for our economy with these efforts. More than 600 million trees, for example, have been saved, and our objective is to get this waste recovery rate to 60% by 2035, in less than 10 years.
We are also focusing on the seas and oceans. We have already removed more than 375 tonnes of marine litter from our seas. This will be a specific focus on our end, but obviously we will continue to give due priority to other sources of methane emissions.
Jay Weatherill: At pre-COP, our Minister for Climate Change announced that Australia would support Türkiye’s zero waste and methane reduction target, reducing global waste generation by 50% by 2035. Within Australia, our safeguard mechanism incentivises emissions reductions, including methane emissions, so about three quarters of the methane emissions from the resources sector are currently covered by that safeguard mechanism.
Q16 John Whitby: On your priority of supporting climate-resilient cities, I presume this partly looks at the construction industry itself, which is a high emitter. Are there specific parts of the construction industry that you would be looking at, for example, such as the production of cement, which is a particularly high emitter? Are there other elements that you are looking at?
Osman Koray Ertaş: Yes, there are major sectors that are major emitters, including cement, as you say. There is the aluminium sector as well. We will have a specific focus on these sectors, nationally, in our policy to achieve net zero by 2053. As you might remember, we had a terrible earthquake more than three years ago—one of the largest earthquakes in mankind’s history. After the earthquake, the Government was able to build more than 450,000 units—homes—in the larger earthquake regions. While rebuilding, we paid the utmost attention to having climate-resilient buildings and tried to decrease the energy use intensity in those buildings.
We will continue on a national level to do similar projects in different parts of Türkiye. The city of Istanbul is unfortunately located on an earthquake fault line. We have ambitious plans to have this urban change in Istanbul and in other major cities that are vulnerable to disasters. This is a priority item nationally for us as well. We also want it to be embraced internationally by different partners.
Jay Weatherill: I think this might fall within the global goal on adaptation, which includes the creation of a technical taskforce to look at a whole range of evidence that can advance that agenda. The national adaptation plans will remain a key focus; I think 93 of those have been submitted to date. We support those discussions on strengthening national adaptation planning and implementation.
Q17 Barry Gardiner: High Commissioner, in concluding the Fiji pre-COP, Minister Tabuya said that the key goals for Antalya were getting finance to the people who need it and “putting the ocean in its rightful place” at the centre of the climate agenda. That ties in very much with the Turkish Presidency saying that you would amplify the voices of vulnerable communities, of developing nations and of the Pacific islanders.
I welcome what has happened with the host country agreement—the funding arrangements that have been agreed—but how will you facilitate the voice of the Pacific nations and the indigenous communities? Look at what happened at pre-COP: the Australian Minister said that he expected 50 leaders from across the world to attend; in the end it was 14. Only two of those were from outside the Pacific region, and they were from the South China sea and the Indian ocean, so there was not the appetite to reflect the ambition at pre-COP. How are we going to turbocharge that when it comes to COP itself?
Jay Weatherill: In the way we think of pre-COP, the fact that it happened was a significant moment. It did elevate the voices of Pacific island nations, and they were grateful for that. Each of those leaders—true, they were largely the leaders in that region—appreciated the international focus on their part of the world. It also allowed them to elevate a range of initiatives that might have been lost in a broader international conference, and I think they appreciated that. If you go through the remarks from each of the nations, you can see that they found it gave them a way of talking about their particular needs that would have otherwise been difficult to get on the international agenda.
Q18 Barry Gardiner: The SIDS have long been a very powerful voice, often amplified in a coalition with one of the other major countries such as India or China. It is not as if they have not had a voice at COP, but sometimes their objectives have not actually been realised in terms of the agenda.
Jay Weatherill: I think, in terms of their objectives, they put the question of finance front and centre. The Pacific Resilience Facility is a substantial achievement. It now has pledges in the order of $210 million.
Q19 Barry Gardiner: You launched a specific action fund in Australia, didn’t you?
Jay Weatherill: Yes.
Barry Gardiner: I think that is a great initiative, but you will know that $5 billion of the funds that were pledged have not yet been disbursed and of course the Pacific island states, and small island states in general, are concerned that people are pledging money but it does not seem to be coming through and getting to where it is needed. How can we turbocharge that?
Jay Weatherill: I think that is because the rules about how to access that funding have proved difficult or oppressive to gaining access to the funding on a certain basis. The idea of the Pacific Resilience Facility is that it is designed in a different way, which means that the criteria and the rules for accessing it, and the ease with which it can be implemented, are different and more beneficial for Pacific island nations. I think that is what they have appreciated: something that works instead of somebody making a grand gesture about something that is not practical from their perspective. In that regard, although we did not have leader representation, having the UK special representative for climate, Rachel Kyte, there was an important element of that whole equation.
Barry Gardiner: Rachel will be with us later this afternoon. I am sure I will press her on some of the same issues.
Jay Weatherill: I am sure she will be able to answer in far greater detail than I have been able to do. A few other things emerged at pre-COP, such as the Taku Pakasoa agreement on strength in unity, which confirmed support for science-based action to triple renewable energy and double energy efficiency, and to transition a lot of those Pacific island nations away from fossil fuels, on which they heavily rely and which are themselves quite precarious, especially given international interruptions.
Q20 Barry Gardiner: I am delighted to hear you say that, but you will not be surprised if I ask you this. Australia has announced a considerable ambition for 2035, but you have also announced that you are expanding fossil fuels. Do you think that sits easily with what you have just said about encouraging other nations to move away from expanding fossil fuels and to move more quickly towards renewables?
Jay Weatherill: We are reducing our reliance on fossil fuels. We have quite ambitious renewable energy targets. I think I mentioned in my opening remarks that there has been a substantial increase in the take-up of renewable energy.
Q21 Barry Gardiner: In September last year, you announced the new position from Australia, which was certainly an improvement. It is an ambitious goal—is it to have a 65% reduction by 2035?
Jay Weatherill: That’s right. It is heading towards net zero, of course, for 2050. There is also an 82% reduction along the pathway. We have a pathway that is realistic when you look at what has been achieved in the last five years. The evidence is in what we have been doing and what we have achieved. We fully accept that it involves a transition, which means that there will still be the use of fossil fuels, especially gas as a transitional fuel, as we move to a renewable energy future.
Q22 Barry Gardiner: Turning to Ambassador Ertaş, I welcomed what you said from the Presidency about amplifying the voice of vulnerable communities, particularly youth, within the teams. When I was at the CBD convention last week, I had the privilege of meeting the Global Youth Biodiversity Network. I wonder what energy you, as the host country, are putting in to ensuring that youth are properly represented in Antalya, and how you are going to amplify their voices in the way the Presidency suggests.
Osman Koray Ertaş: First of all, it is unfortunate that only two countries from outside the region attended the conference. That is why we have to continue to work hard for their voices to be heard on the other side of the world.
We have included oceans and seas among our 10 priority items. There will be a specific day—17 November—that will focus on oceans and seas, and there will be a couple of new initiatives as well. Obviously, we have to build on the existing ones, such as the fund spearheaded by Australia. The first one is the regional and international co-operation for oceans initiative, which we have designed with the UN Environment Programme. Our objective is to enhance the climate adaptation capacity of marine and coastal areas, support coastal resilience through technological and innovative approaches and, more importantly, mobilise climate finance.
The second initiative is a marine litter action platform. It is something we have started to do on a national level, and our objective is to contribute to emissions reduction by connecting identified needs with best practices and sources of finance to scale efforts and to reduce marine litter. Finally, we will have a high-level dialogue on Antarctic messages to strengthen the role and visibility of Antarctica in climate research, recognising its critical role and vulnerability to climate change.
On youth and education, we want to translate climate commitments into child and youth-responsive policies.
Q23 Barry Gardiner: My question is not about policies for young people, but about giving a voice to young people at COP and in the negotiations. We will be deciding things that will be far more pertinent to their future than mine, certainly—you are a much younger man—so it seems important that we involve them in the decision making in a way that has not always happened in the past. That is what I was seeking from you.
Osman Koray Ertaş: We have a UN youth champion, as you know, and we are trying to use that instrument quite prominently in order for the youth to have their say in the whole system and particularly in the negotiations. We want to strengthen the participation of youth in the decision making—that is one of the objectives that we have clearly declared—and we continue to work with institutions such as UNICEF, for example, on that front.
Chair: Thank you very much indeed, Ambassador Ertaş and High Commissioner Weatherill. We are very grateful to both of you for your evidence today and would like to take this opportunity to wish both of your nations well in the COP31 negotiations. We will be following your leadership with great interest and hoping that the COP31 negotiations are the success that we all hope and need them to be.