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Turkey’s emission cut target falls below expectations
As President Abdullah Gül prepares to travel to Copenhagen to attend the UN Climate Change Conference in its second week, Turkish officials will brief participants about Turkey’s strategy to fight climate change on Dec. 14.
Officials from the Ministry of Environment said the Climate Change National Strategy Document is about Turkey’s contribution to reduce the effects of climate change in line with its own abilities and special circumstances.
According to the document, Turkey’s emission reduction target is 7 percent by 2020 if current reduction efforts continue. This target falls short of calls from environmental organizations. For example, Greenpeace asked the government for a 30 percent decrease.
Greenpeace Mediterranean harshly criticized the newly released Turkish strategy yesterday in a press statement, saying it contained points that would virtually prevent entirely the prospects of an agreement being reached at Copenhagen. Greenpeace Mediterranean climate and energy chief Hilal Atıcı said: “[Greenpeace and other NGOs] were particularly disappointed by the lack of [any real] goal to reduce overall emissions by 2020. When compared to the goals set by China or the European Union, [Turkey’s proposal] truly lags behind the times.”
On the other hand, the new document declares that Turkey will also encourage “renewable sources and nuclear energy.”
The document states that Turkey’s short-term target is to focus on “clean” sources of energy in all new buildings and prevent energy waste by using energy more efficiently.
The mid-term targets of the country, in the next one to three years, are to determine energy efficiency potential in buildings and support those buildings with materials to increase energy efficiency.
When it comes to long-term, three-to-10-year targets for Turkey, the document stated that native sources of energy, including coal, hydropower, wind, geothermal and solar, will be utilized.
“The share of renewables in electrical energy production will be increased to 25 percent by 2020,” the document stated.
In addition, it said that greenhouse gas emission inventories will be prepared in residential areas and new strategies will be followed to encourage locals to use their local sources.
Another of Turkey’s targets will be to increase railway usage and encourage short-distance sea transport in addition to increasing light railways and subways in big cities to encourage mass transportation.
“Intelligent transportation systems will be determined and utilized. Land, air, sea and rail transportation will be upgraded to have greater energy efficiency,” the document stated.
Turkey also plans to enter the carbon trading market to offset greenhouse gas emissions.
Per capita annual emissions in Turkey are 4.5 tons, compared to 23.5 tons in the United States and 11 tons in Denmark, where the climate conference is being held Dec. 7-18.
But Turkey’s emissions have risen quickly, from 170 million tons in 1990 to 372 million tons in 2007 as its annual per capita income rose from $3,000 in 1990 to $10,000 in 2007. And Turkish officials say the country will continue to grow.
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