By Frances Schwartzkopff | Updated on Oct 06, 2026 at 11:01 PM
Bankers heading to Turkey for next month’s COP31 climate summit face difficult talks not just over how to mobilize capital, but also over how to scale projects in ways that appeal to a larger group of investors.
That’s according to Javier Rodríguez Soler, global head of sustainability and corporate and investment banking at BBVA SA and co-chair of the COP31 Climate Finance and Investments Working Group, which operates alongside the talks in Turkey to offer recommendations to the summit’s presidency.
“We need to mobilize capital at a much greater scale,” he said by email. “The challenge is not simply finding capital; it is creating enough bankable, scalable and replicable opportunities for that capital to invest in.”
The world is on track to exceed the 1.5C of post-industrial warming that scientists have identified as a critical threshold. In Europe, the fastest warming continent, the fallout is already clear as deadly heat waves disrupt life and hurt economic growth.
Rodríguez Soler said the rationale for investing in climate-friendly solutions is becoming clearer. That’s as more countries react to energy crises by trying to cut their reliance on oil and gas, and as larger parts of the global economy rely on electrification.
“We are increasingly seeing sustainability driven not only by climate objectives, but by competitiveness, energy security, resilience, technology and supply-chain security,” he said. “These are structural economic trends.”
Public and private participants at COP29 two years ago agreed to spend at least $1.3 trillion a year by 2035 on climate initiatives.
“That is particularly relevant as we move towards COP31, because implementation of national climate plans will depend on our ability to mobilize much more private capital alongside public and multilateral finance,” Rodríguez Soler said.
BBVA says bankers are expected to focus on the following themes at COP31:
- De-risking to mobilize private capital
- Developing carbon markets
- Financing climate resilience, adaptation, and loss and damage