Give transport a destination.
The world will pass 1.5°C within the next few years. UNEP’s latest assessment is blunt about what follows: there is no safe version of a warmer world, and the only remaining path is to exceed 1.5°C, peak, and come back down. How long we spend above the line is not fixed. It is being decided now, by the policies and infrastructure governments commit to over the next decade.
Transport is where that decision has the hardest long term impact. A motorway, a fleet, a rail corridor lasts thirty years or more. Invest around fossil fuel reliance and the emissions are locked in long after the political moment has passed. Transport also holds one of the largest blocks of mitigation potential of any end-use sector, and almost none of it comes from individual choice. It comes from policy, planning and investment.
COP31 in Antalya is the moment to harness this potential. Eleven countries paved the way at COP30 in Belém with their Declaration “Towards Resilient and Low-Emissions Transport Systems for People, Development and the Planet”. We can build on this momentum to progress political commitment into coordinated action and implementation.
Why transport, and why now
For decades transport was counted as a source of emissions. It is also the thing that gets people to work, children to school, patients to hospital and food to market. Both are true, and only one has shaped climate policy so far.
The numbers have not moved. Transport produces 16% of global greenhouse gas emissions and takes 95% of its energy from fossil fuels, a share unchanged in fifty years. It is the second largest emitting sector and the fastest growing.
16.3%
of global GHG emissions come from transport
95%
of transport energy is still fossil, after fifty years
COP31 offers an opportunity to move transport from political ambition towards coordinated implementation. Building on the COP30 Transport Declaration, COP31 marks the next step towards a clearer global framework for transport action.
This is reinforced by the COP31 Presidency’s 35×35 target, an electrification target to raise the share of final energy demand met by electricity from just over 20% today to 35% by 2035. Transport demand management and electrification will be key to advancing this target.
COP31 provides an important opportunity to align these processes, strengthen accountability and build momentum for implementation over the decade ahead.
COP31 at a Glance
9 to 20 November 2026 · Antalya EXPO Centre, Aksu, Türkiye · Blue Zone
COP31 is presided over by Türkiye, with Australia leading the negotiations under the Türkiye-Australia partnership modalities. It is the first COP of the UN Decade of Sustainable Transport, ahead of the second Global Stocktake – the Paris Agreement’s five-yearly assessment of collective progress, which concludes at COP33 in 2028.
The Presidency has framed Antalya around implementation rather than target-setting. Its Action Agenda, launched at the Bonn Subsidiary Bodies in June 2026, sets out ten priority themes with measurable global targets for 2035, described by the Presidency as an open invitation to build coalitions rather than a new obligation on any country.
Antalya
9-20 Nov
Transport runs through all ten priorities
Ten Priorities
The Presidency’s vision runs through ten interconnected priority themes and transport is an essential component of how most of them get delivered.
- Clean Energy Transition and Electrification. The Presidency’s target is 35% of final energy from electricity by 2035, up from around 23% today. Transport consumes 27% of global end-use energy and draws 4.6% of it from renewables. The target does not land without transport demand management and electrification.
- Zero Waste and Methane Reduction. Circular vehicles and infrastructure, efficient logistics, lower material and energy demand.
- Climate-Resilient Cities. Public transport, walking, cycling, urban freight and resilient networks.
- Green Industrialisation. Low-carbon freight, logistics and industrial supply chains.
- Youth and Education. Safe, affordable access to schools, and a workforce trained for the transition.
- Food Security. The corridors and cold chains that connect producers to markets.
- Oceans and Seas. Green ports, cleaner shipping, low-carbon maritime corridors.
- Dynamic and Resilient Health Systems. Roads people can reach a clinic on, and emergency response that works.
- Rio Synergies. Transport systems that cut emissions while protecting land, nature and biodiversity.
- Climate Implementation Bridge. Turning commitments into projects, budgets and finance-ready pipelines. Transport has the projects.
Thematic Calendar
Each day of the conference is dedicated to a priority area. Transport appears on more of them than any other sector.
- 9 Nov: Food, Agriculture and Health. Transport connects producers to markets and patients to clinics.
- 10 Nov: Energy and Transport. Our main day. Sessions, clinics and roundtables.
- 11 Nov: Leaders’ Summit, day one.
- 12 Nov: Resilient Cities and Built Environment, and Leaders’ Summit day two. Public transport, walking, cycling, urban freight.
- 13 Nov: Finance and Trade. Project pipelines, bankability, MDB portfolios.
- 16 Nov: Science, Industry and Technology. Low-carbon freight and logistics supply chains.
- 17 Nov: Ocean, Seas, Nature and Land Use, Rio Synergy. Green ports, cleaner shipping, maritime corridors.
- 18 Nov: Human and Social Development. Access, equity, road safety, just transition for workers.
- 19 Nov: İmece, Enhancing Implementation. Turning transport commitments into projects.
SLOCAT at COP31
A Transport Pavilion in the Blue Zone
We have secured a Transport Pavilion at COP31, in partnership with Sistema Transporte, building on the first-ever Transport Pavilion at COP30 in Belém, which hosted 34 technical panels with 48 partner organisations and over 2,000 participants.
Supporting the Presidency’s transport engagement
SLOCAT is supporting the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, Türkiye with transport-related engagement at COP31, connecting the Presidency’s priorities with the wider transport community.
Launching a Global Transport Stocktake
A multi-actor stocktake stream dedicated to transport, ahead of and to contribute to the Second Global Stocktake on the implementation of the Paris Agreement, it will assess implementation alignment with the first Global Stocktake, spotlight effective approaches to climate action and sustainable development in transport, and inform intergovernmental negotiations at COPs and preparations for the second Global Stocktake.
Supporting the building momentum for the COP30 Transport Declaration
Supporting the Chair of the COP30 Transport Declaration (Dominican Republic) and country signatories to showcase momentum and best practice on delivery of the declaration.
Launching a consultative process for a Global Goal for Transport
Building on the political momentum in the lead up to and at COP30 towards greater alignment of fragmented transport priorities around a shared direction, the establishment of a Global Goal for Transport emerged as the next step for collective action. This momentum was reflected in the COP30 Transport Declaration signed by eleven countries. A Global Goal for Transport would help connect this and other existing transport targets and commitments, magnifying their ambition and visibility, and enabling their implementation within a shared global direction.
SLOCAT will launch a consultative process at COP31 to develop a Global Goal for Transport that will serve as a “North Star”: a vision-led, forward-looking statement expressing where the global transport system should be. It should be transformative and inspiring, setting a clear, shared direction for sustainable transport stakeholders and decision makers. It is not a duplication or replication of existing commitments – its role will be to enable, magnify and connect existing actions, initiatives, commitments and declarations, providing an umbrella framework that respects their distinct mandates and existing ownership.
Coming soon
- SLOCAT at COP31, our full programme
- The transport community events tracker
Partner with us
Sponsorship packages and the expression of interest process for Pavilion events open in early September.
Bring a project that needs financing. Bring a policy that worked. Bring a delegation that needs transport on its agenda.