Turkey appoints YÖK as Academic Ambassador for COP31

The Turkish Higher Education Council (YÖK) was announced as the Academic Ambassador for the upcoming COP31 climate conference. The designation was made public by Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change Minister Murat Kurum during the “COP31 Yolunda Bilim Diplomasisi Akademi Lansmanı” event in Ankara. Kurum emphasized that YÖK will help showcase universities’ expertise, laboratories and ready‑to‑implement projects, and will prepare a Turkey Climate Science and Technology Competence Map.

Kurum outlined the COP31 vision of “dialogue, consensus and action,” citing targets such as raising electricity’s share of global final energy demand to 35 % by 2035, halving the rate of waste increase and cutting building‑sector energy intensity by at least 25 %. He highlighted examples like resilient‑city construction in earthquake zones and the “Zero Waste” initiative, stressing the need to turn scientific knowledge into concrete investments and field‑level implementation.