Where to find IIED and partners at COP31: event listing
The 31st Conference of the Parties (COP31) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is a pivotal moment for advancing climate action. IIED researchers and partners will lead and present at several events in-person and online throughout COP31.
UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell, Türkiye's Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change and COP31 President-Designate Murat Kurum, and COP30 President André Corrêa do Lago during a preparatory press conference for COP31 held in Istanbul (Photo: UNclimatechange, via Flickr, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
The 2026 UN climate change conference (COP31) takes place from 9 to 20 November in Antalya, Türkiye. The negotiations focus on turning climate commitments into action, securing the scale and quality of finance needed for adaptation and resilience, and ensuring support reaches the communities most affected by climate change.
At COP31, IIED will bring local partners and decision makers together, connecting evidence and lived experience with global climate negotiations. We will champion the priorities of low-income and climate-vulnerable countries, pressing for decisions that put finance and power in the hands of those most affected. Our events and policy engagement will focus on the following priorities:
- Climate finance that reaches where it is needed most: climate finance must be accessible, equitable and responsive to community priorities. Success means increasing both the quantity and quality of finance reaching local actors and giving communities greater power over how it is allocated and used to strengthen resilience
- Turning locally led adaptation from principle into practice: locally led adaptation works when local actors have the power and resources to shape and deliver action. Governments, donors and institutions must turn their commitments into action, giving local actors greater decision-making power and funding to deliver their own adaptation priorities at scale
- Making loss-and-damage evidence central in policy and financial decisions: as climate impacts intensify, international policy and finance systems must respond to the full scale of economic and non-economic losses and damages experienced by vulnerable communities. Evidence from affected people must shape global responses
- Building inclusive, climate-resilient cities: the urban response to climate change must recognise housing as a climate issue. Informal settlements, housing rights and the realities faced by low-income urban communities must be central to planning, finance and policy. We will work with partners to build support for a stronger urban resilience agenda at COP
- Putting local knowledge, lived experience and justice at the heart of climate policy and science: climate decisions are stronger when they reflect the knowledge, priorities and experiences of those most affected. Communities, Indigenous Peoples and local actors must have greater influence over climate science, policy and finance decisions.
Supporting LDC leadership in negotiations
IIED will continue its long-standing support to the Least Developed Countries (LDC) Group at COP31, working to level the playing field in international climate negotiations.
Events
Detailed information on the events involving IIED and partners at COP31 will be posted below when available, and this page will be updated regularly.
All listed times are in Antalya (GMT +3).
Week 1
Tuesday 10 November
Sustainable Innovation Forum 2026: catalysing transformative climate action at COP31
Venue: Sueno Hotels Deluxe Belek Convention & Meeting Center, Belek, Antalya
The 17th Annual Sustainable Innovation Forum, the flagship event of the Climate Action Innovation Zone, will convene 150-plus speakers and more than 2,000 senior leaders from business, finance, government and civil society during the first week of COP31.
The programme will bring together influential voices from across all sectors of the economy, government, academia and multinational organisations.to advance implementation, mobilise investment, scale climate solutions and accelerate cross-sector collaboration.
IIED executive director Tom Mitchell will be a featured speaker, joining leaders including Lord Alok Sharma, Lord Adair Turner, Faustine Delasalle and Stephanie Pfeifer to help turn ambition into delivery at COP31.
Sustainable Innovation Forum 2026: making adaptation investable
Time: 1.40-2.20pm
Venue: Main stage, Sueno Hotels Deluxe Belek Convention and Meeting Center, Belek, Antalya
Speakers: Tom Mitchell (moderator) IIED; Leslie Maasdorp, British International Investment; Anna Murray, OTPP; Marina Grossi, CEBDS; Dyogo Oliveira, CNseg
To meet international mandates, the adaptation market desperately needs to build revenue-generating investable asset classes. Panellists will examine the structural, financial and policy mechanisms required to de-risk resilience investments across tropical forest protection, agriculture, coastal infrastructure, urban development and water scarcity.
Related reading: Five steps to accelerate finance for climate resilience | Transforming nature finance | The promise of direct access to climate finance: evidence and lessons from LDCs and SIDS | Spurring finance for climate resilience
Baku high level dialogue on adaptation
Time: 10am-1pm
Venue: Meeting Room 19
Hosted by: Australia COP Presidency
Supported by: LIFE-AR, LDC Group
Closed event
Recognising both the urgency of climate risks and the progress made to date, this dialogue will invite participants to showcase successful adaptation efforts and share lessons learned on how adaptation action is already delivering benefits for communities, development and prosperity.
It will explore opportunities to accelerate adaptation action by translating plans, priorities and targets into effective action on the ground, including through the implementation of NAPs. It will also identify systems, finance, mechanisms, or approaches that could be better leveraged to advance adaptation implementation and overcome persisting barriers.
Moving from pledges to implementation
Time: 1.30pm
Venue: Africa Pavilion
Hosted by: UNECA
Supported by: COP Presidencies, LDC Initiative for Effective Adaptation and Resilience (LIFE-AR)
The session aims to facilitate a frank dialogue with former COP presidencies, non-state actors, climate finance providers and governments to share lessons from the previous initiatives on what worked well and what did not in terms of designing the initiatives, financing and implementation.
Too hot to work, too poor to rest: what cities can do to protect informal workers from extreme heat
Time: 1.30-2.30pm
Venue: Global Taskforce of Local and Regional Governments (GTF/UCLG) Pavilion
Hosted by: IIED
Supported by: Alliance for Locally-led Transformative Action on Loss and Damage (ALL ACT) members, CDRI, Sirajganj Pourashava (Municipality), Bangladesh
This event will present new IIED evidence from India and Bangladesh on what extreme heat costs informal workers, at work and at home, using the C-CIQ toolkit. Findings cover lost workdays and wages, why indoor workers are no better off than outdoor workers, poor housing as a driver of heat illness, and the health and psychological costs that conventional assessments miss.
City and national governments from Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean will share what they are doing to protect heat-exposed workers, while a second panel looks at what cities need from national social protection systems, technical assistance providers and loss and damage finance. The session will close with three asks from cities to national governments and climate funds.
Related reading: Bangladeshi workers beset by extreme heat, study finds
Accelerating triangular cooperation for the exploration and use of satellite Earth
Time: 3-4.30pm
Venue: UN Türkiye Pavilion
Hosted by: United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC), European Space Agency (ESA)
Supported by: IIED
Speakers: Fatma Varank, deputy minister of the environment, Türkiye; Babatunde A. Ahonsi, UN Resident Coordinator’s Office, Türkiye; Dima Al-Khatib, UNOSSC; Simonetta Cheli, ESA
This session will look at how Earth observation data can become a sustained national policymaking capability and how applications and lessons can travel across borders through South-South and triangular cooperation.
Following opening remarks, attendees will hear practical examples from ESA’s global development assistance programme, national cases from Türkiye and other participating countries, an investment perspective from ADB, and a discussion on the skills, platforms and partnerships needed for national EO capacity.
From plan to place: aligning national adaptation plans with locally led adaptation in Africa
Time: 4.30pm
Venue: Africa Pavilion
Hosted by: LIFE-AR
Supported by: TrustAfrica/NAP Implementation alliance
This event will explore long-term institutional and capability strengthening and locally led adaptation as the foundation of lasting climate resilience in LDCs and the roles of NAPs in supporting country-led responses in Africa.
It will draw on direct country experience to show what effective, locally led adaptation looks like in practice and feeds into national priorities. It will combine lived experience with policy insight to inform the wider adaptation finance debate at COP31.
Related reading: Country platforms: are we asking the right questions? | Climate finance for least developed countries: lessons on locally led adaptation
From national adaptation plans to investment: mobilising private finance for resilient food systems
Time: 4.30-5.30pm
Venue: Climate Action Summit; Innovation Zone
Hosted by: NAP Implementation Alliance (NIA), FINI, IIED
The vast majority of National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) integrate food systems into its core priorities. However, identifying adaptation priorities in NAPs is only the first step. Delivering these priorities at scale requires investment, including capital from private-sector financial institutions.
This dialogue will contribute to the NIA's objective of connecting country demand for NAP implementation support with relevant technical and financial partners, while helping identify practical pathways to mobilise private investment for climate-resilient food systems.
Wednesday 11 November
Locally led adaptation: launch of the plan to accelerate solutions
Time: 10.30-11.30am
Venue: Multilateral Climate Funds Pavilion
Hosted by: IIED, hosted by the Adaptation Fund
The Locally Led Adaptation (LLA) Plan to Accelerate Solutions (PAS) has been finalised and submitted through the UN Climate Champions 2030 Climate Solutions process.
Hosted by the Generating Ambition for Locally Led Adaptation (GA-LLA) initiative, the PAS sets out 11 outputs through 2028 to scale LLA via national systems, sub-national and local finance, sector guidance, accountability mechanisms and a stronger evidence base. To date, 21 institutions have signed on to the PAS.
Related reading: Principles for locally led adaptation
The full bill of a disaster: debt, credit ratings and currency after climate shocks, and what the support package needs to look like
Time: 11-12am
Venue: Nepal Pavilion
Hosted by: Government of Nepal
Supported by: IDRC, IIED
Speakers: Dr. Swarnim Waglé, Minister of Finance of Nepal; Ed Miliband, UK Foreign Secretary; The Honourable Mia Amor Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados; Ralph Regenvanu, Minister for Climate Change of Vanuatu; Julie Dabrusin, Minister of Environment of Canada; Dr Bhim Adhikari, IDRC; Ritu Bharadwaj, IIED
This session will examine the August 2026 Langtang glacier collapse and subsequent flooding in Nepal as a case study of how disasters can affect a country’s economy far beyond physical damage. It will explore the impacts on economic growth, public debt, credit ratings and currency, drawing on IIED’s work with Global Small Island Developing States (SIDS) Debt Sustainability Support Service, where similar challenges have been documented.
Related reading: Insurance regulation falling behind as climate risks rise, study suggests
Facility for scaling the LDC Initiative for Effective Adaptation and Resilience (LIFE-AR)
Time: 3-4.30pm
Venue: Side Event room 9
Hosted by: LIFE-AR
Supported by: LDC Group
This high level event will aim to celebrate progress to date, announce the facility, present LIFE-AR’s vision for scale and welcome new partners and contributors to LIFE-AR. The event will be followed by a networking session.
Thursday, 12 November
Building resilience with nature: evidence across cities, communities and ecosystems
Time: 11.30-12.30pm
Venue: Evidence for Climate Action (E4CA) stage and online
Hosted by: WASCAL (West African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use), Campbell South Asia/ Global Development Network, IIED
Supported by: Green Climate Fund
At this event, authors from four different paper will discuss findings. This includes a recent IIED working paper on how nature-based responses are reflected in policy frameworks in selected countries in the global South, and the extent to which they are specifically applied to urban and informal settlement contexts.
Related reading: Nature for climate in cities: exploring nature-based solutions for informal settlements
From the Himalayas to global climate action: financing mountain resilience, nature-based solutions and locally led adaptation
Time: 11.30-12.30pm
Venue: Nepal Pavilion
Hosted by: National Trust For Nature Conservation
Supported by: IIED
Drawing on Nepal’s experience in conservation and community-based natural resource management, as well as emerging opportunities under global climate-finance mechanisms, the session will explore practical pathways for scaling up inclusive, resilient and locally owned solutions. It will connect mountain-specific priorities with global climate action and encourage collaboration that can deliver measurable outcomes for people and nature.
Stories of action: delivering access to climate finance in practice
Time: 2-3pm
Venue: TNC Pavilion
Hosted by: Champions Group on Adaptation Finance, C&DM
In this session, speakers will share practical access lessons, especially for adaptation and resilience.
Unlocking the tripling of adaptation finance: reform, access and local delivery
Time: 6.30-8pm
Venue: Antalya EXPO Center, Side Event Room 8 – BERGAMA
Hosted by: Talanoa Institute, Grupo de Cambio Climático para Latinoamérica y el Caribe (GFLAC), Institute Society, Population and Nature (ISPN) and IIED
At COP30, Parties agreed to triple adaptation finance by 2035, but delivery remains the challenge. This event will explore how reforms to the international financial architecture and MDBs, together with independent funds, can improve the access, quality and predictability of adaptation finance.
Related reading: Reform of international financial architecture | How can multilateral climate funds reach people that need it most? | Bridging climate and nature: the next generation of country platforms
Friday, 13 November
From plans to platforms: mobilising investment for nature, climate and development
Time: TBC
Venue: Angola Pavilion
Hosted by: Government of Angola, more TBC
Supported by: IIED, LIFE-AR, more TBC
This session will showcase Angola’s national climate finance plan. Participants will also be able to exchange lessons on nationally owned country platforms aligning climate, nature and development investment and identify technical and financial partnerships for follow-up.
Saturday 14 November
Connecting cities, informality and loss and damage in urban climate action
Time: 10.30-11.30am
Venue: United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) Pavilion
Hosted by: Youth for Unity and Voluntary Action (YUVA)
Supported by: Observer Research Foundation, UNU-EHS, International Alliance of Waste Pickers, IIED
Cities in the global South, and informal settlements in particular, face disproportionate climate impacts because of inadequate infrastructure, insecure tenure, limited basic services and climate-sensitive livelihoods. Informal workers such as street vendors and waste pickers are often left out of city climate plans, heat action measures and disaster response systems.
This session will explore how local governments and communities can deepen city-level climate planning and link it to locally grounded action on adaptation and loss and damage.
Implementing climate mobility commitments: needs, tools and support
Time: 11.05am-12.30pm
Venue: Climate Mobility Pavilion
Hosted by: National Center for Rural Development and Durable Solutions (NCRDS), Africa CSID, International Alert, IIED
Countries that have included climate mobility in their national climate plans face the same question of what it takes to turn commitments into action, across data and risk assessments, coordination across ministries and levels of government, legal and policy frameworks, community participation and access to finance. As part of developing the Climate Mobility Adaptation Agenda (CMAA), the workshop introduces and pilots a draft country self-diagnostic to help governments identify where they stand, what they need and which tools and support would be most useful.
Participants will work through the diagnostic by theme (data, institutions, law and policy, finance, participation), countries will report back on priority needs and gaps, and an open exchange will match those needs with existing tools, good practice and offers of support from partners. The findings will feed into CMAA regional dialogues in early 2027 and action pledges for the 3rd Berlin Climate Mobility Forum in June 2027.
From plans to portfolios: National Adaptation Plans and private finance
Time: 1.30-2.30pm
Venue: Resilience Hub
Hosted by: NRDC
Supported by: Atlantic Council’s Climate Resilience Center, IIED, E3G, COP30 Presidency/ FINI Secretariat, Asian Development Bank, Adaptation Fund, NAP Implementation Alliance
Speakers: Mohsen Gul and Anaa Hassan, IIED; Yamide Dagnet and Lorraine Nmorka (NRDS)
How can National Adaptation Plans connect country priorities to appropriate finance and delivery pathways? This 60-minute dialogue will bring country, finance and implementation leaders together to test a proposed NAP Investment Interface.
Through evidence presentation and a reflection circle, participants will examine where private finance fits, what must remain publicly funded, and what countries and finance providers each need to do. The session will seek practical follow-up offers and one agreed next step.
Accessing, sustaining and scaling finance
Time: 2-3pm
Venue: Online
Hosted by: GEF, Adaptation Fund, IIED
Speakers: Neeraj Kumar Negi, GEF; Susan Louise Legro and Vladislav Arnaoudov, Technical Evaluation Reference Group of the Adaptation Fund (AF-TERG); Rojy Joshi, IIED
At this event, authors from four different paper will discuss findings. This includes a recent IIED working paper on the persisting challenge of unlocking direct access finance for LDCs and SIDS. The paper puts forward recommendations for reforms that might improve access for national-level entities to the Adaptation Fund and Green Climate Fund.
Protecting climate migrants and displaced workers in a just transition
Time: 4-5pm
Venue: Just Transition Pavilion
Hosted by: Franciscans International, UNRISD, Human Rights Advocates, IIED, Beyond Climate Collaborative, ILO’s MIGRANT unit, Center for Global Development
Climate change drives human mobility. With decent work, migrant workers fill labour shortages, send remittances and support decarbonisation, but in poorly regulated labour markets they face exploitation, heat stress, illegal recruitment and forced labour. Migration also reshapes care work and needs. The session brings together evidence, legal perspectives, views on care and mobility, and community advocacy to improve rights-based responses to migration in adaptation planning and in a just transition.
What works: protecting the right to stay and to move safely
Time: 5.30-6.30pm
Venue: Climate Mobility Pavilion
Hosted by: National Center for Rural Development and Durable Solutions (NCRDS), Africa CSID, International Alert, IIED
Speakers: H.E. Zahra Abdi, Director General, NCRDS; Ritu Bharadwaj, IIED; more TBC
This event will bring together evidence from Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia, India and Bangladesh on what helps people stay with dignity and move safely when they have to.
Somalia’s NCRDS will present the National Rural Development Strategy 2026–2030, built on participatory appraisal in 10 districts and 20 villages; Africa CSID and International Alert will share locally led, gender-responsive and conflict sensitive approaches to climate mobility in Kenya and Ethiopia; and IIED/ALL ACT evidence on distress migration and modern slavery, and on anticipatory social protection, migrant helplines and fair recruitment that reduce exploitation risks for climate migrants in South Asia.
The session will identify what governments, development partners and the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage can do to finance and scale these approaches.
Week 2
Tuesday, 17 November
From shock to scale: the Africa Resilience Solutions Lab
Time: 1.45pm
Venue: Regional Climate Foundation
Hosted by: Africa Resilience Collaborative
Supported by: LIFE-AR, PACJA, TrustAfrica, Africa Climate Foundation, Tax Justice Network Africa
Africa does not lack resilience solutions; too many remain fragmented, under-resourced and unable to reach scale. 'From shock to scale' is an interactive Africa Resilience Solutions Lab exploring what must change in how resilience is financed, governed and delivered.
Moving beyond a conventional panel, the session combines a lived resilience story, rapid African solution showcases, an audience-led resilience financing challenge and a 'solution-to-scale' exchange with philanthropy, finance and policy actors.
Wednesday 18 November
Advancing locally led adaptation at scale: aligning finance, policy and action
Time: 6-8pm
Venue: Antalya EXPO Center, Side Event Room Green
Hosted by: Mercy Corps, Concern Worldwide, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), Plan International (Plan), Practical Action
Speakers: Developing and developed country government championing LLA, climate fund representatives, local organisations and LLA experts
Scaling locally led adaptation (LLA) requires finance that delivers for local communities. Reflecting the growing focus on access, this event will explore how governments, funders and local actors can strengthen pathways from global and national finance flows to local action, while embedding LLA across sectors and aligning with the Global Goal on Adaptation.
Related reading: Beyond the principles: does locally led adaptation deliver? | Locally implemented or locally led? Tracking finance for community climate action | Practical guidance for aligning operations with the LLA principles | Multilateral climate funds are making changes to support locally led adaptation: where have they got to?
Thursday, 19 November
From commitments to deployment: accelerating locally led climate finance and implementation in Africa
Time: 9.30am
Venue: Africa Pavilion
Hosted by: Africa Resilience Collaborative
Supported by: LIFE-AR, PACJA, TrustAfrica, Africa Climate Foundation, Tax Justice Network Africa
More details to come
