Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday highlighted Pakistan’s solar power boom at the COP31 in Turkiye, where world leaders gathered to discuss joint solutions to combat climate change.

This year’s summit focuses on transitioning toward a low-carbon future. Delegates from nearly 200 countries are meeting in the Mediterranean resort city of Antalya as global greenhouse gas emissions show little sign of falling and wars, inflation and other crises compete for political attention.

Addressing a high-level dialogue on clean energy transition, titled ‘35 by 35: Powering the Future’, PM Shehbaz said: “In my country, an extraordinary transition has already taken place.

“In just two years, Pakistan has added nearly 22 gigawatts of rooftop solar capacity — a quiet revolution by ordinary citizens seeking affordable power and a cleaner, more predictable future.”

“Pakistan fully supports the ambition of 35 by 35 and we are confident it can be met,” he affirmed, referring to a global pledge to aim to increase electricity’s share of total final energy consumption to around 35 per cent by 2035 in line with global climate objectives.

He thanked Turkiye President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose country has the COP31 presidency, for convening the “important dialogue”.

Earlier in the day, PM Shehbaz was received by Erdogan and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres upon his arrival at the venue, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said.

The premier and other world leaders then gathered for a group photograph at the summit.

In his speech at the Leaders’ Summit, PM Shehbaz will highlight Pakistan’s climate priorities and emphasise the urgent need for enhanced global climate action and strengthened international cooperation to mitigate the adverse impacts of climate change, according to PMO.

The Foreign Office (FO) said the prime minister will also highlight “Pakistan’s steps towards rapid solarisation and expansion of its renewable energy capacity, as part of its transition towards a cleaner and more resilient economy, along with its efforts to strengthen disaster preparedness and early-warning systems”.

He will call for predictable, adequate and accessible climate finance for developing countries to strengthen their resilience and pursue sustainable development, it added.

According to the PMO, a “Pakistan Pavilion” has been established at the COP31 venue where 54 events will be hosted on various themes.

As the third day began, Guterres told world leaders at the summit that the slow international response to climate change so far had placed the world on a path to destruction.

Governments must fight harder to preserve the planet for future generations, he said, in comments that set the tone for two days of rapid-fire speeches by world leaders at the UN conference on Turkiye’s Mediterranean coast.

“The brutal truth is that the climate crisis is outrunning us. This is the path to mutually assured destruction,” Guterres said, pointing to rising emissions, global temperatures and worsening climate-driven disasters.

“But science is not telling us to surrender. It is telling us to fight harder.”

Negotiators from nearly 200 countries are seeking agreement on a plan to increase the share of electricity in global energy use and revive stalled efforts to move away from fossil fuels.

Dozens of leaders were to speak during the “high-level segment” taking place on Wednesday and Thursday, including Erdogan, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, whose country hosted last year’s climate talks.

“Nature — no less than people — is also paying a heavy price for armed conflicts. The starkest example of this is Gaza… what has taken place in Gaza is not only a genocide, but it is also an ecocide,” Erdogan said to applause.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Chinese Vice President Han Zheng, and Marshall Islands ​President Hilda Heine will also speak on Wednesday.

The United States, the world’s largest historical emitter, has skipped the talks for the second year in a ‌row after ⁠President Donald Trump — who has called global warming a hoax — withdrew the US from climate cooperation following his return to office in 2025.

PM meets Pezeshkian, interacts with world leaders

On the sidelines of the summit, the prime minister held conversations with leaders of various countries and international bodies.

The premier and his delegation also had a separate meeting with Iran’s Pezeshkian and his team.

The meeting was to “discuss bilateral relations and the promotion of mutual cooperation between Pakistan and Iran”, as well as the regional situation and matters related to regional peace, PMO stated.

PM Shehbaz’s informal meetings included those with Bangladesh’s PM Tarique Rehman, Palestinian PM Mohammad Mustafa, Saudi Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud, Saudi State Minister for Foreign Affairs Adel bin Ahmed al-Jubeir and Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa, according to PMO.

He also met Organisation of Islamic Cooperation chief Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, World Bank President Ajay Banga and Türkiye’s First Lady Emine Erdoğan.

In his conversation with his Palestinian counterpart, PM Shehbaz expressed Pakistan’s full solidarity with Palestinians.

According to PMO, Mustafa thanked the government and people of Pakistan for “effectively raising their voices on the global level against the injustices inflicted on the Palestinian people and for supporting the Palestinian stance”.

“During these cordial meetings, the prime minister and the world leaders discussed strengthening bilateral relations and the situation in the region,” PMO said.

It added that the meetings also stressed the importance of highlighting the challenges faced by countries most affected by climate change at the international level.

Year of extreme weather

A UN report last month found the world on course to break through the 1.5 degrees Celsius warming limit that countries had agreed to pursue under the Paris Agreement to prevent the worst effects of climate change.

Meanwhile, 2026 has also stood out with a series of extreme heatwaves across Western Europe and a glacier collapse in Nepal that triggered a catastrophic flood killing more than 1,450 people, with thousands still missing.

Former French prime minister Laurent Fabius, who presided over the 2015 Paris climate conference and leads an advisory council of former COP presidents, said on Tuesday the leaders’ speeches should give political impetus to the negotiations.

“It is an opportunity for leaders to make some announcements, and more this time, to explain how they will implement, because the key word in Antalya is implementation,” he told Reuters.

Several other nations, including France, Germany, Japan, Italy and Canada, did not send their top leaders to the talks this year and won’t be represented in the speeches.

“The world’s biggest economies should be leading the response to the climate crisis, not leaving it to others,” said Mohamed Adow, director of climate and energy think tank Power Shift Africa.

Age of electricity?

COP31 host Turkiye has been pushing for countries to put a goal on electrification at the centre of a final deal, though critics say it may do little to curb warming.

The proposal targets a rise in electricity’s share of total global energy consumption to 35 per cent by 2035, up from a little over a fifth now, theoretically reducing greenhouse gas emissions from cars, factories and buildings.

But the proposal does not include language requiring new power to be generated by clean energy sources, and governments have yet to clarify a broader plan to transition away from fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas.

Guterres urged countries to speed their transition to clean energy sources.

He said the world’s dependence on fossil fuels was also damaging economies, not just the climate, an apparent nod to surging petroleum prices since the start of the US and Israeli war against Iran that has disrupted Middle East oil exports.

“Three-quarters of humanity live in countries that import fossil fuels, hostage to price shocks they did not create and cannot control,” he said.

“Recent conflicts make clear that this is a recipe for chronic insecurity and a cost-of-living meltdown.”

‘Difficult start’

Ahead of the conference, negotiators had been locked in discussions late on Sunday over demands by developing nations to include items on climate finance in the official agenda.

“This has already been a difficult start for COP31,” said Jasper Inventor, head of Greenpeace’s COP31 delegation.

Under UN climate agreements, developed countries, which are historically responsible for most greenhouse gas emissions, have provided financial support to help developing nations adapt to climate impacts and transition to cleaner energy. But poorer countries say the sums remain insufficient.

Inventor said developed countries were “taking a hard line” over whether to include a platform, agreed at COP30 in Brazil last year, aimed at discussing how wealthy nations should provide funds to developing nations.

African countries are also pushing for the agenda to include discussions on the tripling of adaptation finance, which aims to help poorer nations pay for measures such as building sea walls or planting drought-resistant crops.

Observers say few major breakthroughs are expected at COP31 as countries grapple with an oil price shock and geopolitical tensions fuelled by the US war on Iran and Russia’s conflict in Ukraine.