From Antalya to the World: 2026 Global Impact Leaders Recognized at COP31

Two-day summit in the COP31 Blue Zone brings together heads of government, ministers, scientists, investors and 31 young leaders under 31

AKSU, ANTALYA, TURKEY, November 12, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The Global CSR Foundation (GCSRF) and The European magazine, together with Rotary Club International, hosted the 2026 Global Impact Leaders Summit and Honors Ceremony on November 10 and 11 in the COP31 Blue Zone. Held at the Rotary Club International Pavilion in Hall B2, the two-day summit recognized honorees of the 100 Global Impact Leaders, a program that celebrates people and organizations delivering measurable progress on climate action and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

COP31 was the program's final and largest in-person stop of the year. Earlier ceremonies took place at APEX in Las Vegas in September, at UN Headquarters in New York during the 7th Global CSR Summit in October, and at the World Changers Summit in Rome.
"For two days we heard from prime ministers, lawmakers, scientists, investors, journalists and students, and every one of them came with something that's already working," said Jing Zhao Cesarone, Founder and CEO of the Global CSR Foundation and Co-Chair of the 100 Global Impact Leaders Judging Panel. "COP31 will end, but this network won't. Our job now is to keep these leaders connected and help their solutions travel."

COP31 in Context
COP31, the 31st UN Climate Change Conference, runs November 9 to 20 at the Antalya Expo Center, bringing together nearly 200 countries and more than 100,000 participants. Türkiye holds the presidency under Murat Kurum, Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, while Australia's Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen leads the negotiations.

The hosts have branded it the "implementation COP," focused on turning existing pledges into concrete, measurable action. Türkiye's Action Agenda priorities include clean energy, zero waste and the circular economy, green industry, resilient cities, oceans, food security and health, with climate finance for developing countries at the center of the talks.

Opening the conference, Kurum invoked the Turkish tradition of imece, which he said means "sharing hope as well as sharing the burden." UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell warned that progress is "nowhere near far enough or fair enough." At his final COP as UN Secretary-General, António Guterres declared, "We have entered a new age of climate extremes." The World Leaders' Summit, hosted by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on November 11 and 12, ran alongside Part 2 of the Global Impact Leaders Summit, whose honorees came to Antalya with exactly the kind of working solutions this COP is asking for.

Day One: Capital, Energy and Inclusion
Part 1 opened on November 10 with honoree Cheng Gloria Ai, Founder and CEO of iAsk Media and iAsk Capital, as Master of Ceremonies. Jing Zhao Cesarone gave the welcome address, and Max Studennikoff, founder of CC Forum, delivered the keynote, "How Shall We Finance the Green Transition?"
Ten honorees then shared solutions already in practice, covering endangered species conservation, women's leadership in the power sector, AI and cybersecurity, clean energy and climate justice, freshwater protection, Indigenous education in Guatemala, corporate sustainability, community forestry in Zimbabwe, urban metabolism research and climate media. Speakers included Dr. Christopher Puttock, Ruomei Li, Rosalind Panda, Professor Daniel Kammen, Salvador Rico, Steve Dudenhoefer, Şafak Özsoy, Cinderella Ndlovu, Dr. Gabriela Fernandez and Dr. Domenico Vito.

The highlight of the afternoon came when His Excellency Lord Fakafānua, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Tonga, delivered a special address on sea level rise and climate justice for small island states, and received the Climate Resilience Award. The Ambassador of the Dominican Republic also attended, and Dr. Maximiliano Puig, Executive Vice President of the Dominican Republic's National Council for Climate Change and Carbon Market and a former Minister of Environment, was honored as one of the 100 Global Impact Leaders.

Day Two: Innovation, Health and Culture
Jing Zhao Cesarone hosted Part 2 on November 11. Judging Council member Judith Diment MBE, President of the Rotary Club of London, opened the session by drawing on Rotary's decades of work to end polio as a model for long-term climate partnership.
Juan Carlos Monterrey, CEO of VANGLabs, TIME100 Climate honoree and Panama's first Special Representative for Climate Change, gave a special address that brought the latest from the negotiating rooms into the pavilion. Joni Laez, Member of the National Congress of Honduras, also joined the summit. Gayatri Karnik, Policy Analyst at the Anthropocene Institute, then delivered the keynote, "Breakthrough Technologies for a Livable Planet," on behalf of 2026 honoree Carl Benjamin Page, the Institute's President and Co-Founder.

In a leadership dialogue on climate finance and resilient communities, three leaders spoke in turn: Nick Greenfield, Senior Communications Officer at the Global Environment Facility, and Ugandan Members of Parliament Joseph Ogwal and Evelyne Ninsiima.

Impact talks followed from honorees Peter Kuo of SIAS International, Menglong Jia of Hangzhou Heshun Culture Creative, , Cheng Gloria Ai from iAsk Media and iAsk Capital, journalist Joseph Hammond, young inventor Wally Chen-lin Yang, Dr. Xiaoguang Wang, and Erai Beckmann and Kyleigha Beckmann, Founding Partners of Peace Through Trade. Topics ranged from climate and global health and microplastics and women's reproductive health to culture, media, technology cooperation and corporate social responsibility.

Among them, honoree Dr. Gabriela Szalayova, a physician and biomedical researcher, presented "Beyond the Visible: Micro and Nanoplastics, Women's Health, and Reproductive Risks," bringing a health lens to the climate and pollution conversation, and received her 100 Global Impact Leaders award that afternoon.

The summit closed with the COP31² Youth Forum, recognizing young leaders under the age of 31 for their work in climate action, technology and sustainable development.

What's Next
The final list of the 100 Global Impact Leaders will be announced by the end of 2026, with honoree profiles featured in The European magazine.

Sofia
Global CSR Foundation
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