A Turkish organisation at the centre of the country’s environmental policy has struck a formal partnership with London Climate Action Week, tying its work on waste reduction and the circular economy into the UK capital’s international climate calendar just months before Türkiye hosts the COP31 summit.
The agreement, signed on 17 August in London, was announced alongside a separate initiative published ten days earlier: a book examining how zero waste principles can be applied to scientific research carried out at the poles. Together, the two developments mark an attempt by Türkiye to present its zero waste programme as a subject of international scientific and diplomatic cooperation rather than a purely domestic policy.
A formal link to London’s climate network
The Zero Waste Foundation signed the cooperation protocol with London Climate Action Week, an annual gathering that draws participants from government, business, finance, academia, civil society and local communities. The protocol covers climate action, zero waste and circular economy approaches, and is intended to strengthen knowledge exchange and joint initiatives between the two organisations.
The document was signed by Samed Ağırbaş, President of the Zero Waste Foundation and a COP31 High-Level Climate Champion, and by Nick Henry, Climate Action Founder and CEO. Ağırbaş said the agreement should lead to practical collaboration in the near term. “After this cooperation protocol, I hope we will carry out strong work and organize joint events at COP31 and London Climate Action Week,” he said.
For London Climate Action Week, the partnership brings in an organisation with direct experience of running a national zero waste programme at scale. For the Zero Waste Foundation, it offers a route into a well-established international network at a moment when Türkiye is preparing to take on a prominent diplomatic role on climate issues. Organisers on both sides describe the arrangement as focused, in the first instance, on practical exchange rather than broad declarations of intent.
Research at the poles brought into the same framework
The London agreement followed closely on the publication, on 7 August, of a book titled “Zero Waste in the Polar Regions”. It was prepared with the Polar Research Institute of TÜBİTAK, the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye, and examines how zero waste principles can be applied to scientific expeditions in the Arctic and Antarctic.The book brings together 18 articles written by scientists who have taken part in polar research, covering the scientific, technical, administrative and communication aspects of applying a zero waste approach in some of the most remote research environments in the world. Rather than concentrating solely on how waste is collected once it is produced, the contributions look at how expeditions are planned from the outset, including the use of materials, and how energy, water and logistics are managed in the field.
The publication argues that the polar regions function as an early warning system for global climate change, and that environmental changes recorded there have implications well beyond the Arctic and Antarctic themselves. That framing is used to justify treating polar research as directly relevant to zero waste and resource efficiency policy elsewhere.
Mehmet Fatih Kacır, Minister of Industry and Technology of Türkiye, said the book connected two separate national programmes that both began in 2017. “The Zero Waste initiative launched under the leadership of H.E. Emine Erdoğan has grown step by step from a national initiative into a global one,” he said. He added that Turkish scientific expeditions to Antarctica and the Arctic, organised under the auspices of the President of the Republic of Türkiye, had allowed Turkish scientists to build up the country’s presence in polar research. “At the same time, we began organising scientific expeditions to Antarctica and the Arctic under the auspices of the President of the Republic of Türkiye, enabling Turkish scientists to strengthen the country’s presence in polar research. Through this book, these two initiatives have come together,” he said.
The book also reflects the broader zero waste approach associated with H.E. Emine Erdoğan, who founded the Zero Waste Movement, chairs the United Nations High-Level Advisory Board on Zero Waste, and holds the position of Honorary President of the Zero Waste Foundation.
Diplomatic backdrop ahead of COP31
Both developments are being presented against the backdrop of COP31, which Türkiye is due to host. That summit gives the London partnership and the polar research book a wider diplomatic significance than either would carry in isolation, positioning Türkiye’s zero waste experience as a point of reference in international discussions rather than a domestic case study alone.
Officials involved in the two initiatives have been careful to distinguish between the immediate, practical cooperation now underway and the broader diplomatic context that COP31 provides. The near-term work is expected to focus on direct exchange between the Zero Waste Foundation and the London Climate Action Week network, including the possibility of joint events held around COP31 itself.
Taken together, the polar research book and the London protocol illustrate an approach that treats zero waste as extending beyond household recycling or municipal waste management, encompassing scientific practice, resource efficiency and international policy cooperation. Whether that approach translates into concrete joint programmes will become clearer as COP31 draws closer and the details of the London partnership are worked out.
