What happened
Antalya youth group Değişim Elçileri has written an open letter to the COP31 Presidency, calling for Türkiye to publish a scheduled plan for an equitable move away from coal.
According to İklim Haber, the group wants the plan to contain clear objectives as well as a timetable. Its members argue that commitments describing COP31 as focused on implementation should be matched by action, rather than further delay to decisions on fossil fuels.
The letter comes from young people who live and study in Antalya, the prospective COP31 host city. They frame their request as applying beyond the city, to Türkiye’s wider energy transition and the future they expect to experience.
Why it matters
The appeal puts the social terms of a coal transition alongside the request for a schedule. Değişim Elçileri says a transition plan must not exclude people employed in mining and coal-fired generation, local residents or communities with livelihoods tied to coal.
It calls for secure prospects for workers and for local people to participate in decisions. For organisations operating in coal-linked regions, the intervention highlights expectations that transition planning should address employment, income and community engagement, not only generation capacity or emissions.
The group also links a national coal plan to the COP31 Presidency’s stated implementation agenda. Its request is therefore for a specific public policy step: a transparent plan setting out how and when Türkiye would begin its coal transition.
What readers should watch
The letter asks the COP31 Presidency to issue the requested plan and start the transition. It does not specify a date by which the plan should be released, nor does it propose a final date for ending coal use.
Readers should watch for any response from the Presidency on whether it will publish targets, a timetable and measures for workers and affected localities. The source material identifies these as the principal elements sought by the group.
