What happened

Türkiye has launched the Sustainable Urban Resilience Finance Facility (SURFF) at a New York meeting on climate-resilient cities. The initiative was introduced under the COP31 Action Agenda by COP31 President and Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change Minister Murat Kurum.

Partners include the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), UN-Habitat, İLBANK and United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG). The facility is intended to help cities move from climate objectives to investable projects, secure finance and deliver investments. It is designed to connect cities with existing international funding rather than create a replacement fund.

SURFF will operate through three components:

  • a country platform to translate national climate objectives and nationally determined contributions into urban project pipelines;
  • a centre of excellence providing technical knowledge, implementation experience and project-preparation support; and
  • an international dialogue bringing together governments, cities, development banks, financial institutions and technical partners.

Why it matters

For Turkish municipalities and other cities, the proposed mechanism could support the preparation of projects that are ready for consideration by international financiers. It brings technical assistance, capacity building, project development and long-term partnerships into one framework.

İLBANK’s participation places a Turkish institution with municipal project-development experience within the initiative. The scheme also seeks to combine public funds, multilateral development-bank lending, climate funds and private-sector finance for urban adaptation investments, particularly in vulnerable countries and cities.

Kurum said Türkiye had applied a comparable integrated approach during reconstruction in the earthquake region. The ministry reported that newly constructed disaster housing, designed around a nearly zero-energy-building approach, achieved a 39% reduction in energy consumption and a 38% reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions.

Background

The launch sits within the COP31 Action Agenda’s climate-resilient cities theme, one of its 10 priority areas. Türkiye plans to position SURFF within the Climate Implementation Bridge, an initiative intended to make grant and financing instruments more effective for adaptation investment.

What's next

The partners will continue developing SURFF’s institutional arrangements, financial instruments and delivery mechanisms before Antalya. The stated aim is to establish a mechanism that connects priority, investment-ready urban projects with international finance and accelerates implementation.