It was with immense pleasure that I had the opportunity to be back to Istanbul to participate in the conference titled Towards COP31 Türkiye Climate Finance Policy Dialogue, and to attend the launching of Global Islamic Climate Finance Alliance (GICFA). As always what happens at the margins of such well organized international events is not less important than the meetings and seasons. And thanks to the convening power of Istanbul and the outreach of the COP31 presidency and climate champion Samed Agirbas and his excellent team I spent two busy days with officials, private sector, entrepreneurs and stakeholders.
I’m particularly thankful for Furkan Karayaka, the Vice President of the Investment Office of the presidency and Dr. Tarık Akın, the Head of Finance Department of the Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye for the hospitality and constructive engagement and the exceptional support of their teams.
In the coming weeks till the COP31, the Global Islamic Climate Finance Alliance (GICFA) team including Dr Moutaz Abojeib and Dr. Mohamed Anouar Gadhoum will be working hard, based on the agreed approach of the participants of the event. GICFA will not simply be another initiative in the climate-finance landscape. It will be a practical bridge between Islamic finance and the wider development and climate-finance system—helping turn available capital and financial capabilities into investment, implementation
and impact in the field.
Finally, I was happy to see the alignment of thinking and action by stakeholders towards implementing the climate agenda; with many participants now stating that climate action is a development action! wasted Enormous resources and time have been wasted before realizing the oblivious inseparable relationships between climate and development.
In a book I edited, see the link, the authors of the chapters demonstrated, by evidence and best practice from around the world, how can countries do better in mitigation and adaptation without compromising development, or financial and fiscal discipline.
