COP26 President to visit Türkiye to progress delivery of the Glasgow Climate Pact
COP26 President Alok Sharma will visit Türkiye from Monday 4 – Wednesday 6 July.
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His 2nd visit to Türkiye follows the COP26 Conference in Glasgow in November last year, where almost 200 countries agreed the Glasgow Climate Pact to keep the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 C above pre-industrial levels in reach
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Mr Sharma will visit Kalyon Enerji’s 1.35GW Karapinar solar project. This is the largest solar facility in Türkiye and has been supported by more than £217 million worth of UK government backing.
COP26 President Alok Sharma will visit Türkiye from Monday 4 – Wednesday 6 July to progress and strengthen delivery of the landmark Glasgow Climate Pact, following COP26 held in Glasgow last year.
Mr Sharma’s visit to Türkiye will continue the work of the UK COP Presidency to press for updated climate commitments from all countries ahead of COP27 in Egypt, aligned with the crucial goal of limiting global temperature rises to 1.5 degrees.
Mr Sharma will meet the Minister for Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change, the Minister for Energy and the Minister for Treasury and Finance to discuss how to build on the main achievements of the COP26 Conference and how the UK and Türkiye can cooperate in delivering ambitious climate action.
During his visit, Mr Sharma will also have a chance to see UK-Türkiye collaboration in action, visiting a solar farm which represents UK Export Finance’s biggest ever guarantee for a solar project (£217m). Equivalent to over 4,600 football pitches in size, Türkiye’s largest solar power plant will deliver clean electricity to approximately 2m Turkish households when completed in late 2022.
Ahead of his visit Mr Sharma said:
I am very pleased to be in Türkiye for the second time in just over a year. In 2022, it is vital that all countries honour the commitments made in the Glasgow Climate Pact to strengthen and revisit their 2030 emissions reduction targets this year.
The transition to clean energy economies is accelerating around the world, including in Türkiye. I welcome the commitment from President Erdogan towards climate action, including a 2053 net zero emissions commitment, and look forward to seeing an updated NDC later this year.
During my visit, I look forward to speaking with my Turkish counterparts and discussing how we can support the development of a green finance ecosystem in Türkiye, including the recent £217m of UK export finance which will help construct Türkiye’s largest solar facility powering two million households.
Notes to Editors
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The 26th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), COP26 took place November 1-12, 2021, in Glasgow, UK.
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The UK holds the Presidency until COP27 in Egypt later this year and will aim to ensure promises on emission reductions are fulfilled to keep 1.5C alive; commitments on adaptation and loss and damage are honoured; commitments to get finance flowing are kept and that its inclusive Presidency continues.
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On 15 November 2021, Britain’s International Trade Secretary announced over £217 million worth of government backing for the largest solar facility in Türkiye as the UK started to deliver on pledges made at COP26. UK Export Finance’s backing for Kalyon Enerji’s 1.35GW Karapinar solar project is the largest-ever guarantee it has provided for a solar project.
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The UK also announced a 2.1 billion Euro loan to fund the construction of over five hundred kilometres of high-speed electric line between Ankara and Izmir. This is the largest ever non-defence deal in the history of UK Export Finance. The UK’s ‘Exim Bank’, will finance the construction of this longest high-speed rail project in Türkiye.
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The UK government has also been running the Climate Finance Accelerator Programme in Türkiye since 2021, to support Türkiye’s development of low carbon projects.