Turkey's designated host for Cop31 climate negotiations has called on wealthy nations to allocate significantly more funding to climate action than military spending, framing environmental crisis as a security threat.
Murat Kurum, the Cop31 president-designate, made the statement at a pre-Cop summit in Fiji. He argued that climate spending should exceed the 5 percent of GDP that NATO member countries have committed to defence budgets. "The climate issue is the security issue," Kurum said, according to The Guardian.
The framing represents an attempt to reposition climate finance as a national security imperative rather than solely an environmental or development concern. This argument has gained currency among policymakers who cite climate-driven migration, resource scarcity, and geopolitical instability as security multipliers.
However, Kurum's position on a core climate commitment remains unclear. He declined to confirm whether negotiators at the Cop31 summit in Turkey next month will seek to renew or strengthen language from previous agreements calling for a transition away from fossil fuels. That language, secured at Cop28 in Dubai, marked the first time a UN climate conference explicitly referenced moving away from the primary source of greenhouse gas emissions.
The Guardian reports that Kurum's hedging on this point "is likely to prove contentious." Turkey's position on fossil fuel language carries particular weight because Turkey hosts the talks and holds the presidency during negotiations. The nation is a major coal consumer and producer, which could influence its negotiating stance on carbon-intensive energy sources.
The timing of Kurum's comments, delivered at a Pacific pre-conference event, underscores competing pressures facing Cop31. Island nations and vulnerable countries typically push for stronger language on phasing out fossil fuels, while major fossil fuel producers and energy-dependent economies often resist or water down such commitments.