UN Global Compact Calls for Faster Climate Action as Business Leaders Gather at COP31

Detailed summary

The High-Level Meeting is a centrepiece of the UN Global Compact's wider programme at COP31, which includes more than 20 sessions organized with its Country Networks on the clean…

ANTALYA, Türkiye, Nov. 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Business and UN leaders gathered at COP31 today to address one of the most pressing challenges in global climate action: how to turn corporate commitments into measurable emissions reductions at a time of growing political uncertainty and economic pressure.

Convened by the United Nations Global Compact, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and UN Climate Change, the 14th Annual High-Level Meeting of Caring for Climate brought together chief executives and senior representatives from business, finance, Government, civil society and the United Nations to identify practical ways to accelerate climate action and overcome barriers that individual companies cannot tackle alone.

The meeting came amid renewed warnings from UNEP that the world is on course to exceed 1.5°C of warming within the next few years. With the window for limiting the scale and duration of that overshoot narrowing, participants examined how businesses can sustain science-based climate ambition while translating transition plans into tangible results.

"We meet at a defining moment for climate action. The magnitude and duration of the overshoot depends on the choices we make today, and returning to 1.5 degrees remains possible but only through urgent and sustained emissions reductions," said Sanda Ojiambo, UN Assistant Secretary-General, CEO and Executive Director of the UN Global Compact. "The next chapter of climate leadership will be defined not by the commitments we make but by the problems we solve, the emissions we cut and the clean, green energy transition that we deliver."

Ms. Ojiambo stressed that many of the policies, technologies and solutions needed to accelerate climate action already exist. The challenge is deploying them at the speed and scale required. While corporate climate commitments have grown, implementation continues to lag, held back by policy uncertainty, inadequate infrastructure, financing constraints and continued fossil fuel…

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