00:15In Tokyo, the 31st United Nations Conference on Climate Change is underway with the goal of proposing tangible solutions to
00:23the global climate crisis.
00:24There is present our colleague Juno Suner, who is in Antalya and has more details on everything that is happening
00:32there. Hello, Juno. Pleasure to greet you.
00:36Hello, good afternoon from Turkey, Alejandra. Well, local time. Good afternoon. Good morning to Latin America.
00:43We are right now in the exposition center where the conference is taking place. And I would like to give
00:50our audience an idea what exactly is going on here.
00:53I'm right now in the blue zone, which is divided in two parts. This part is for the countries to
01:00present themselves.
01:02They all have pavilion stands. And let's take a look around. For instance, on this side, we have the stand
01:08of Ethiopia, where Ethiopian products are displayed,
01:12but also Ethiopian information material is displayed regarding climate change and how it affects that country. On the other side,
01:24this is a truly international event happening here.
01:27Here we have Indonesia. And you see in the background, there is a panel taking place right now organized by
01:36Indonesia. These are panels that all the countries organize to deal with certain aspects related to climate change.
01:45This one, for instance, these with decarbonization, the use of biomass and how that affects or could fight the climate
01:54change. In the back, we have on this side, the Chinese pavilion.
01:59And on the other side, here in the back, we have the Brazilian pavilion and behind that, the Canadian pavilion.
02:05So this is the part where the countries display themselves. In another part, there are the delegates meeting behind closed
02:13door to prepare for tomorrow's meeting of the heads of state, heads of government.
02:20And 91, 95, excuse me, are expected to attend that meeting, according to sources from the Turkish Ministry of Environment,
02:30which is also hosting, organizing this event here.
02:34So that's tomorrow's story. Today's story is the proposal presented by the Turkish Minister of Environment and also the current
02:43president of the COP31, Murat Kurum.
02:46Murat Kurum proposed the idea of the 35 by 35, meaning in the year 2035, 35% of the energy
03:00consumed in each country should be electric energy instead of fuel, gas, coal or other sources.
03:08Meaning, he said that should lead us to achieve that, for instance, urban transportation should be much more by using
03:17electrical vehicles, electrical buses, intelligent houses, intelligent buildings should both save energy and produce energy was his idea.
03:30And also in industrial production, he proposed to use more energy.
03:35Another minister of Turkey speaking at the conference, the Minister of Energy said, this is not just a way to
03:42protect the environment, but also to have energy security.
03:47He emphasized, he emphasized, he mentioned the recent crisis of energy supplies resulting from the war in Ukraine or the
03:56war at the Strait of Hormuz, the attack against Iran, which have disrupted supplies.
04:01So this is the idea on the table, but both ministers as well as other experts are well aware that
04:07this transition needs a lot of investment.
04:11That's a difficult issue on COP31.
04:14We remember in 2024, in the summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, the countries have pledged to spend $300 billion annually on
04:27energy transition, fighting climate change, adaptation to already existing effects.
04:33But this goal was set for 2035.
04:38Until now, they have spent, according to the OECD numbers, $136 billion.
04:46So not even half of it is already spent.
04:50But moreover, there is discussion about the nature of this spending, because two thirds of it are loans, it's credit.
05:01So this is money lent by rich, advanced capitalist countries to the poorer ones.
05:08And the poor countries are arguing the following.
05:11They say, you, the advanced capitalists, are the ones who are causing the climate change, who are having the emissions,
05:18who are using all these fuel oils and fossil oils.
05:22And we are the most affected by them.
05:25And now we are forced to get to even ask for more credit, which would lay a heavier burden on
05:32our economies, heavier than the already existing one.
05:35Remember that a number of southern countries of the global south are already under huge pressure because of debt.
05:44So this is another issue that is much on discussion, how to resolve this, how to get to a more
05:52subventions or donation based aid to poorer countries that are facing the effects of climate change.
06:02And that would need these investments to transit from using fossil oils, fuel oil to electric production, renewable energy production.
06:13These are issues that are being discussed.
06:15We learned that Brazil is also will present a proposal tomorrow to move away from the use of oil and
06:25petroleum and to use more renewable energies, an issue that was already last year discussed in the summit in Belém
06:35in Brazil.
06:36That was COP30. So Brazil is going on continuing with this idea. But as I said, a big issue is
06:44how to finance this and how to make it achievable.
06:48Also, especially for developing countries and for poor countries that are most affected by climate change, which is caused basically
06:58by the advanced industrial and capitalist countries.
07:02It's precisely in the geopolitical context in which this event is taking place there in the region. What does hosting
07:12COP31 mean for Turkey as in matters of international relations and political standing precisely in this context that you were
07:22informing?
07:23Well, for Turkey, it is a major, major, major, major event. This is the first time that the country hosts
07:30such a UN conference. It's really a big event.
07:35There is a participation of 100,000 people, not only politicians. There are a number of representatives from NGOs, from
07:44civil society groups, from companies, from political parties.
07:49These academics are attending this conference. So 100,000 is the number that is expected to occur here until November
07:5620th. And there is a public part, the green zone, which we are not in right now, that is open
08:03to the public.
08:03There are a number of events. There are two cultural events, panels, discussion rounds, exhibitions. So this is a big,
08:13big event and a big success for the Turkish diplomacy and organizing capacities.
08:19They are very proud of it. So this is for Turkey and its diplomacy. The most, the biggest event that
08:27I think they have ever organized here, COP31. And they are taking the lead with the proposals as they have
08:35the presidency of the COP organizing committee.
08:39There is another country. There is another country also involved in it. This is Australia, because Turkey has the presidency
08:45of organizing it. Australia has the presidency of the negotiating rounds between the states and the parties of the UN
08:54framework.
08:55So there, Australia will have to find the compromises, will have to carry messages between different parts, will have to
09:03develop a sense of diplomacy. But they are doing this together with Turkey.
09:08So this is a joint effort of these two countries and the major, major, major event from the Turkish position,
09:14of course.
09:15Thank you, Yunus, very much for your first hand information. We will keep in contact with you to know more
09:22on the event. So thank you very much.
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