Climate Finance Policy Dialogue

Excellencies, Minister Mehmet Şimşek, 

High-Level Climate Champion Mr. Samed Ağırbaş, 

Excellencies,

Dear Ambassadors,

Distinguished guests,

Good morning, and welcome to Istanbul.

It is a great pleasure to address all of you in this Climate Finance Policy Dialogue on behalf of the United Nations in Türkiye.

We meet today at a particularly important moment. As the world prepares for COP31, the climate finance question is moving from the margins of the climate debate to the centre of economic and financial policymaking.

The fundamental question is no longer whether we need to invest in climate action. The question is: how do we enhance the scale, speed and quality of finance required to turn climate ambition into investment and investment into real-world results?

This is why this Dialogue matters.

Dear Participants;

Climate change is no longer simply an environmental challenge. It is a systemic economic and financial risk. It affects fiscal balances, debt sustainability, financial stability, infrastructure, food and energy security, businesses and livelihoods. At the same time, the transition to a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy represents a major investment opportunity.

Responding to both sides of this equation requires more than individual projects or isolated financial instruments. It requires financial systems that are aligned with climate objectives by design, through regulation, taxation, investment decisions, risk management, capital markets, disclosure and project preparation.

Türkiye is an important country in this global conversation.

Türkiye's 12th National Development Plan places green growth, climate resilience and sustainable infrastructure firmly within the country's development agenda. The recently launched National Green Finance Strategy and Action Plan 2026–2030 provides an important framework for strengthening sustainable finance policies, developing green financial instruments, improving climate-related disclosure and mobilizing domestic and international capital. Türkiye is also deepening its engagement with international financial institutions and developing a growing ecosystem of green and sustainable finance instruments.

These are important foundations. But policy ambition and financial architecture ultimately need to translate into financial flows. And this is where some of the most important challenges and opportunities lie.

We need stronger pipelines of bankable and investment-ready climate projects. We need to deepen domestic markets for green and sustainable financial instruments. We need stronger risk-sharing and blended finance mechanisms that can help mobilize private and institutional capital. And we need reliable reporting, assurance and climate data so that investors can make informed decisions with confidence. These are not challenges unique to Türkiye. They are shared across emerging and developing economies. And this is precisely why the experience and solutions developed here can have relevance well beyond Türkiye.

Dear Colleagues,

Today's Dialogue builds on two critical global processes:

First, the Sevilla Commitment, adopted at the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, recognizes that climate considerations must be integrated across the international financing architecture, including fiscal policy, resilient infrastructure, debt management, insurance, financial regulation and investment.

Second, the Baku-to-Belém Roadmap to 1.3 trillion gives us a clear global ambition: to scale climate finance to USD 1.3 trillion annually by 2035.

That figure is enormous. But it becomes meaningful only when translated into national policies, investable projects, financial instruments, risk-sharing mechanisms and partnerships that can move capital. This is therefore not a Dialogue about restating ambition. It is a Dialogue about the mechanics of delivery.

Today, we will look at six critical dimensions of that delivery: climate-aligned financial regulation and taxonomy; green finance instruments; bankable project pipelines; blended finance and risk-sharing; mobilization of private capital; and sustainability reporting, assurance and reliable climate data.

Across all six areas, I would encourage us to ask one simple question:

What needs to change to move more capital, more quickly, towards credible, bankable and climate-resilient solutions?

The United Nations sees its role in this process as that of a convener, bridgebuilder and partner - bringing together government, regulators, financial institutions, IFIs, development partners, businesses, investors, academia and civil society.

We intend to carry the practical recommendations emerging from this Dialogue forward to the COP31 Presidency, to the High-Level Climate Champion and the Global Climate Action Agenda, and to our partners across the multilateral development and international financing system.

Therefore, I have one request to all participants today: Let us resist the temptation to remain at the level of broad principles. Let us identify concrete actions that can realistically be advanced over short, medium and long term.

• What regulatory change could unlock investment?
• What financing mechanism could move a pipeline of projects from concept to investment readiness?
• What risk-sharing instrument could bring institutional and private capital into areas where it is currently hesitant to invest?
• And what partnership could be institutionalized so that we move from dialogue to delivery?

If we can leave this room with a small number of specific, credible and implementable actions - and a clear sense of who needs to do what - then this Dialogue will have made a meaningful contribution to Türkiye's climate finance ecosystem and, importantly, to the road towards COP31.

Dear Guests, 

Let me once again express my sincere appreciation to the Ministry of Treasury and Finance, the Office of the High-Level Climate Champion, and all our partners for making this important Dialogue possible. I would like to thank the management of Ziraat Bankası for hosting this flagship event at their premises. 

I also thank all of you for being here and, most importantly, for bringing your expertise, experience and perspectives to this conversation.

I hope that today’s discussions will be candid, practical and forward-looking, and that they will help us identify solutions that can move from this room to implementation, and from Türkiye to the global climate finance agenda.

I wish you a productive and forward-looking discussion.

Thank you.