Global Business Leaders Gather in New York as COP31 Pushes Climate Action Into the Boardroom
By: Oluwaseun M. Lawal
New York, September 20, 2026 — The road to COP31 is not only being mapped out by governments. Business leaders are getting involved too.
More than 300 senior executives are expected in New York on Tuesday, September 22, as the COP31 Business Forum holds its New York Dialogue, bringing together companies, investors, policymakers and climate experts ahead of the November summit in Antalya, Türkiye.
The event, co-hosted by the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Türkiye (TOBB), the COP31 Private Sector Envoy and Bloomberg, will open the Bloomberg Green New York programme.
It will also mark the first time the COP31 Presidency presents its Action Agenda directly to the global business community.
The meeting begins at 3:30 p.m. at Bloomberg Headquarters. TOBB President and COP31 Business Forum Chair M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, alongside Bloomberg founder and UN Special Envoy on Climate Ambition and Solutions Michael R. Bloomberg, will open the gathering.
Then comes the main event.
Murat Kurum, COP31 President-Designate and Türkiye’s Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, will present the Action Agenda to business leaders. The agenda itself is due to be launched at the United Nations on September 21.
What happens next could be just as important.
A panel moderated by Bloomberg Television’s Francine Lacqua will bring the private sector into the conversation, with Ali Y. Koç of Koç Holding, Dr. Fatih Birol of the International Energy Agency, Makhtar Diop of the International Finance Corporation and John W.H. Denton AO of the International Chamber of Commerce.
Hisarcıklıoğlu says the private sector now has a practical role to play in turning climate commitments into action.
“Governments sign the agreements. Business builds them,” he said.
The Business Forum’s New York programme will continue through September 25. Its Advisory Council of global business leaders is scheduled to hold its first meeting on September 23, while seven working groups, representing more than 700 members, will meet in person during the week.
Those groups bring together executives and experts from companies and organisations including Sabancı Holding, Octopus Energy, Schneider Electric, ACCIONA, GE Vernova, JSW Steel, Heidelberg Materials, Rönesans Holding, Meridiam, Honeywell, Yıldız Holding, WBCSD, BBVA, ICC, Arçelik, Just Climate, Emerald AI and KADIN Indonesia.
Their work will not end in New York.
The working groups are expected to present their recommendations at the COP31 Business and Investment Summit in Antalya on November 12–13. For the first time at a COP, the business summit will run alongside the Leaders’ Summit, giving private-sector recommendations a direct platform before heads of state and government.
And there is another significant detail. The organisers expect the Antalya gathering to become the largest business event ever held in a COP Blue Zone.
The message from New York is therefore fairly straightforward: climate policy may be negotiated by governments, but implementation will require businesses to get involved, invest and build.
The countdown to COP31 has started. And this time, the boardroom is part of the conversation.
Oluwaseun Musa Lawal is an Editor at REPORTERS ROOM with over eight years of professional journalism experience. He specializes in reporting on politics, climate change, health, and education, while also covering security, economic, and judicial affairs. His work is driven by a commitment to accuracy, balanced reporting, and public-interest journalism.
