Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will address the COP31 Leaders' Summit in Antalya, Turkiye, on Wednesday, setting out Pakistan's climate priorities before world leaders gathered for the United Nations climate conference. The prime minister arrived in the Mediterranean resort city on Tuesday night for a three-day visit, and will use his address to press for stronger global climate action and more accessible finance for developing countries facing the worst effects of a warming planet.
Delegates from nearly 200 countries are meeting in Antalya for COP31, the 31st Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, which opened on 9 November and runs until 20 November. The two-day Leaders' Summit, on 11 and 12 November, brings heads of state and government together at a moment when global greenhouse gas emissions show little sign of falling and wars, inflation and other crises compete for political attention.
According to the Prime Minister's Office, Mr Sharif will highlight Pakistan's climate priorities and stress the urgent need for enhanced global climate action and stronger international cooperation to mitigate the adverse impacts of climate change, in line with established principles. The Foreign Office said he would also draw attention to Pakistan's steps towards rapid solarisation and the expansion of its renewable energy capacity, as part of the country's transition to a cleaner and more resilient economy, along with its efforts to strengthen disaster preparedness and early-warning systems.
The prime minister will also address a high-level dialogue on clean energy transition and electrification convened by the COP31 presidency, titled "35 by 35: Powering the Future", scheduled for 3pm local time, or 5pm in Pakistan. On the sidelines of the summit he is scheduled to hold bilateral meetings with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other world leaders attending the conference, to discuss matters of mutual interest and explore avenues for strengthening bilateral cooperation.
Upon his arrival at Antalya airport on Tuesday, the prime minister was received by Turkiye's Deputy Culture and Tourism Minister Gokhan Yazgi, Pakistan's Ambassador-designate Amna Baloch and senior Turkish officials. He is accompanied by a delegation that includes PPP Senator and former climate minister Sherry Rehman, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar and his adviser Tariq Fatemi. A Pakistan Pavilion has been established at the COP31 venue, where 54 events will be hosted on various climate-related themes.
Federal Minister for Climate Change Musadik Malik said Islamabad was seeking global cooperation on glacier research, as Pakistan's northern mountains hold some of the largest ice reserves outside the polar regions. The government has repeatedly warned that melting glaciers and the growing risk of glacial lake outburst floods, known as GLOFs, threaten vulnerable communities in the north, and that the country needs international support to monitor the ice and protect the people living downstream.
Pakistan's case for climate finance rests on a painful recent history. The country is among the most climate-vulnerable in the world despite contributing only a tiny share of global emissions, and the catastrophic floods of 2022, which submerged a third of the country and affected more than 33 million people, remain fresh in the national memory. Successive governments have argued that countries like Pakistan should not have to bear alone the cost of disasters driven largely by emissions elsewhere.
The summit itself opened amid disagreement over climate finance, with developing countries pressing wealthy nations to increase funding for adaptation and the transition to cleaner energy. The opening ceremony was delayed by around 90 minutes as negotiators held discussions over demands from developing nations to include climate finance issues on the official agenda, and the UN chief has urged nations to accelerate their shift away from fossil fuels.
Wednesday's speakers at the Leaders' Summit are also expected to include Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who was re-elected at the end of October and whose country hosted last year's climate talks. The world leaders will begin their speeches in the afternoon and continue through the day on Thursday, according to the COP31 schedule.
For Pakistan, the visit is both a diplomatic exercise and a plea for help. Whether the summit delivers the finance and cooperation Islamabad is seeking will become clear only as the negotiations unfold over the next nine days, but the prime minister's address on Wednesday puts the country's glaciers, its floods and its solar ambitions squarely before the leaders who will decide.
