Zero Waste is one of the COP31 presidency priorities and has its own day on 11 November, reflecting Türkiye’s national Zero Waste programme and the profile of the Climate High-Level Champion for this COP.
Samed Ağırbaş, president of the Zero Waste Foundation, is the Climate High-Level Champion for COP31. The Champion shapes the non-negotiated side of a COP, which is where waste, reuse and circularity questions actually get worked on.
The practical consequence for anyone in this field is that the subject has a day, a set of rooms and a Champion behind it, which is not the case at most COPs.