18/12/2025
The Istanbul Policy Center (IPC) addressed the international, legal, and social dimensions of the fight against the climate crisis in an event entitled "The Paris Agreement and Beyond on its Tenth Anniversary," held to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the Paris Agreement. The meeting, held on December 16, 2025, at the IPC Karaköy, brought together academics, journalists, and experts working in the field of climate.
In his opening speech, Ümit Şahin, the Coordinator of Climate Change Studies at IPC, emphasized that the Paris Agreement is not merely a technical climate document, underlining the need to consider it on the basis of human rights and ecosystem integrity. Şahin also touched upon the approximately 20-year history of the climate movement in Türkiye, recalling the transformation that civil society and social struggle have undergone with the Paris process.
Journalist and founder of Açık Radyo, Ömer Madra, evaluated the Paris Agreement with mythological references in his speech. Madra stated that despite all its shortcomings, the Paris Agreement is the most important international tool humanity has in the face of the climate crisis, adding that thanks to the Paris Agreement, the climate crisis has been defined not only as an environmental issue but also as a legal and ethical one. Drawing attention to the recent decisions of the International Court of Justice regarding the climate crisis, Madra said that these developments reveal the long-term impact of the Paris Agreement.
The final speaker of the event, Prof. Dr. Semra Cerit Mazlum, addressed the Paris Agreement from the perspective of international politics and law. Stating that the Paris Agreement offers an "insufficient but indispensable" framework, Mazlum emphasized that the agreement places the climate crisis at the center of global politics and has had a transformative effect on the climate policies of states. Mazlum stated that the concepts of human rights, climate justice, and intergenerational responsibility have become more visible with the Paris process, and that the agreement also provides a framework that guides global investment and energy policies.
The event concluded with a discussion section that continued with questions and contributions from the participants. This section highlighted topics such as the future of the Paris Agreement, climate finance, phase-out of fossil fuels, and the climate policies of Türkiye, which will host COP31. The meeting at the IPC served as a reminder of why the Paris Agreement remains an important point of reference even after a decade, and also provided a productive platform for considering the future direction of the climate struggle.
