Turkmenistan has put forward a package of climate initiatives at the COP31 summit in Antalya, reported News Central Asia (nCa).
Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, Chairman of the Halk Maslahaty, presented the proposals at the plenary session of the leaders’ summit:
- declaring 2028–2037 a UN Decade of Climate Resilience and Adaptation;
- launching an “Ashgabat Climate Dialogue”, with a first meeting in Ashgabat in 2027;
- a Digital Atlas of Climate Change and Its Adverse Impacts, developed with UNEP, the WMO, UNDP and the World Economic Forum;
- a Global Partnership for Climate Technology Transfer for developing countries;
- an International Environmental Code under UN auspices that would bring existing environmental, climate and biodiversity rules into a single legal instrument;
- a Regional Centre for Combating Desertification for Central Asia.
A Regional Centre for Climate Change Technologies is expected to open in Ashgabat in early 2027. On the sidelines, Turkmen ministries signed agreements with UNICEF, UNIDO, UNDP, FAO and the International Water Management Institute.
Turkmenistan said it is implementing the Global Methane Pledge by modernising its power system and cutting gas losses. The issue is sensitive: satellite monitoring has repeatedly identified the country as a source of large methane leaks from its gas fields. The proposals continue Ashgabat’s practice of promoting itself through UN initiatives under its policy of neutrality.
CentralasianLIGHT.org,
November 12, 2026