ANTALYA, Türkiye — Ministers and climate envoys from 14 countries at the COP31 climate talks have signed the Antalya Statement, a joint declaration backing a bigger role for international carbon credit markets in paying for climate action, the Coalition to Grow Carbon Markets announced on Thursday, November 12.
Source: Coalition to Grow Carbon Markets
The statement was signed at launch by Canada, France, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Kenya, Luxembourg, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Switzerland, Türkiye, the United Kingdom and Zambia. It commits the signatories to work on the policy implementation needed to grow private-sector investment in carbon credit markets.
The Antalya Statement also launched a Policy Playbook setting out eight policy levers that governments can use to grow corporate demand for high-integrity carbon credits. The Playbook was released by the Coalition at the Singapore Pavilion in Antalya.
Recent analysis cited by the Coalition shows that supportive government policy could help grow demand for carbon credits and quadruple the current value of the market to US$21 billion by 2035 — yaani about 21 arab dollars, or roughly ₹1.9 lakh crore at current exchange rates. The Coalition said the statement demonstrates rising political support for using carbon markets to mobilise billions in climate finance by 2035, a central focus of this year's talks.
The Coalition to Grow Carbon Markets is a government-led initiative whose member countries also include Egypt, Ghana, Panama and Peru. It argues that carbon credit markets can deliver private-sector finance for climate action in developing countries, where public climate finance has repeatedly fallen short of what was promised.
The launch comes in the middle of a COP31 summit where money remains the hardest question. Developing nations in Antalya have renewed demands for adaptation finance and support for climate losses, while negotiators remain divided over how fast to move away from fossil fuels — the same finance fight that has dominated every recent climate summit.
Canada's presence among the signatories is notable for the Punjabi and Indian diaspora watching these talks: Canada and India are both deeply exposed to the climate-finance debate, Canada as a donor and carbon-market builder, and India as one of the largest seekers of climate investment for its energy transition.
What happens next: ministers and climate envoys are scheduled to meet again on Monday, November 16, at a roundtable hosted by the Coalition and the Türkiye COP31 Presidency, where the countries are expected to discuss how the Playbook's eight levers will be turned into national policy. Whether the market actually quadruples will depend on those follow-through decisions, not on the statement itself.