15 November 2022
Turkey plans to increase emissions and fail climate targets
Istanbul, 15 November 2022 – Campaigners lament Turkey’s plans to increase its greenhouse gas emissions by over 30 percent by 2030, according to its Nationally Determined Contributions, submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) today. According to the plans, Turkey’s emissions will continue to climb until 2038.
Turkey’s most up-to-date emission data for 2020 shows that the country emitted 523.9 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e) [1]. Turkey’s climate ministry insists that this would more than double to 1,175 MtCO2e by 2030 according to a business as usual trajectory. By limiting this increase to around 700 MtCO2, the government claims it is reducing Turkey’s emissions by 41 percent. In reality, Turkey’s emissions will increase by around a third over the decade.
“Turkey imports 78 percent of the fossil fuels it burns to produce its energy. This dependency on expensive, obsolete fuels is making Turkey poorer, sicker, and less secure. We have the potential to be a solar and wind superpower at the forefront of a global green energy revolution. But every day our government delays commiting to meaningful climate targets, we waste public money that would be far better spent on building a resilient economy of the future,” said Duygu Kutluay, Europe Beyond Coal Turkey campaigner
According to the latest UN Emissions Gap report, current national commitments put the world on track to warm between 2.4 and 2.6 degrees celsius [2] and will see countries use up 86 percent of the remaining carbon budget consistent with a 50 percent likelihood of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees by 2030 [3]. Turkey is the world’s sixteenth biggest greenhouse gas emitter [3].
“Turkey’s NDCs boil down to a commitment to emit more greenhouse gases, not less. They leave us on the same incremental emissions path that we’ve been on for the past three decades, and do nothing to protect our country from runaway climate change and the regressive socioeconomic effects of burning fossil fuels. These NDCs hurt Turkey’s image within global climate diplomacy and the persuasiveness of its 2053 target,” said Bengisu Özenç, Sustainable Economics and Finance Association director.
ENDS
Contacts:
Alastair Clewer, Senior Communications Manager, Europe Beyond Coal
alastair@beyond-coal.eu, +49 176 433 07 185
Nilay Vardar, Communications Consultant, Europe Beyond Coal, (Turkish, English)
nilay@beyond-coal.eu +90 533 310 89 98
Duygu Kutluay, Turkey Campaigner, Europe Beyond Coal Campaign (Turkish, English)
duygu@beyond-coal.eu, +90 532 6385421
Notes:
- Turkey’s total greenhouse gas emissions were 523.9 Mt CO2 equivalent in 2020: https://data.tuik.gov.tr/Bulten/Index?p=Sera-Gazi-Emisyon-Istatistikleri-1990-2020-45862
- https://www.unep.org/resources/emissions-gap-report-2022
- https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/cma2022_04.pdf
- https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2021/10/5/turkeys-climate-sceptical-country-is-serious-on-climate-change
About:
Europe Beyond Coal is an alliance of civil society groups working to ensure a just transition to a fossil-free, fully renewables-based European energy sector. This means exiting coal entirely by 2030 at the latest, and fossil gas by 2035 in the power sector. We devote our time and resources to this independent campaign because we are committed to seeing a European energy system that protects people, nature and our global climate: www.beyond-coal.eu