Dan Ioschpe at COP31: "The next chapter is about moving further and faster"

This week, Dan Ioschpe, COP30 Climate High-Level Champion spoke at COP31 for the Global Climate Action Agenda framing event, which marked ten years of the Marrakech Partnership and the 2026 Yearbook launch. At his final COP as Champion, he reflected on the progress so far and the next chapter.

Good evening,

In Belém, we built the structure of the Global Climate Action Agenda. Here in Türkiye, we are showing that this structure can grow stronger from one Presidency to the next, and, more importantly, that it delivers tangible results for people, businesses and communities worldwide.

Many of you are now familiar with the Brazilian word “mutirão”. It describes people coming together to get the job done.

Progress happens when people work together.

That is the spirit we brought to Belém, the spirit we are seeing in Antalya, and the spirit that we will carry forward to Addis Ababa.

Because climate action doesn’t belong to one stakeholder or one sector. It takes governments, businesses, investors, cities and communities working together in the same direction.

And it doesn’t happen only during a COP. It happens 365 days a year, 24 hours a day.

Our task now is to turn that collective effort into implementation at greater speed and scale.

Today we launch the 2026 Yearbook for Global Climate Action – a full picture of how the revitalised Action Agenda has performed after a year of implementation. The evidence is encouraging. Here are the numbers:

More than 482 initiatives and coalitions are now actively involved in the Action Agenda, across six axes, 30 activation groups and 10 COP31 priority topics.

And, the Action Agenda is advancing: 87 per cent of the 131 Plans to Accelerate Solutions reported progress – in policy and markets, in finance committed or flowing, in new tools and standards, in lower emissions, and in measurable results for people and communities.

And it is starting to shift the wider economy. Of the global indicators the Yearbook can measure, half are already moving in the right direction.

Not fast enough everywhere – but it is a clear sign that voluntary action by coalitions of governments and non-state actors is beginning to reshape key sectors.

That is the first lesson from this Yearbook: the structure works. The next chapter is about moving further and faster – from tools to uptake, from uptake to finance, and from finance to measurable results for people and the planet.

We can already see what that looks like – in deals made, dollars invested, delivery on the ground, and the difference it makes in people’s lives. To mention just a few examples:

Deals: over the past year, Brazil, Mexico and Togo joined the global agreement on zero-emission trucks and buses, bringing it to 43 countries, alongside more than 50 new endorsers from business, civil society and subnational governments.

Dollars: sustainable industrial investment is accelerating. Nineteen projects reached final investment decision in just six months, and the Industrial Transition Accelerator is supporting more than 35 projects in sunbelt economies, representing 80 billion dollars of investment potential.

Delivery: the Global Fire Management Hub and its partners supported integrated fire management in more than 30 countries this year, including community- and Indigenous-led approaches.

And the difference on the ground: 119 countries now have multi-hazard early warning systems that protect lives, up from 108 a year ago.

The second lesson is continuity.

I want to thank the COP31 Presidency for carrying forward the Action Agenda structure, and I am encouraged by the COP32 Presidency’s interest in continuing this work in Ethiopia.

Continuity is what allows progress to compound.

We do not need to reinvent the Action Agenda every year. We need to make it more efficient every year.

Because the structure is not the achievement. What matters is what it makes possible: more investment, more competitive businesses, and more resilient cities and communities.

These are my last weeks as Champion. It has been a great honour, and a unique opportunity to contribute to one of humanity’s greatest collective challenges.

Over nineteen months, I worked alongside extraordinary people – business leaders, mayors, governors, community leaders, scientists and academics – all pulling in the same direction.

I leave this cycle more optimistic than when I entered it. And deeply grateful – to the COP31, COP30 and COP29 Presidency, to the Marrakech Partnership, to the UNFCCC secretariat of the Global Climate Action Agenda, to the Climate Champions Team, and especially to every partner who has carried this work forward with tenacity and passion. Thank you. Obrigado.

The structure is in place, and here in Antalya it is gathering speed and scale. So, colleagues, I will leave you soon with great confidence for what comes next, in Addis Ababa and beyond.

Thank you.