Erdoğan was delivering a speech at a high-level event held in New York late on Monday as part of an ongoing General Assembly meeting of the United Nations, when he outlined his government's approach on global warming and international efforts for easing the probable damage of global warming in the future.
Despite looking positively at signing the protocol, which was adopted in 1997, Turkey has so far stated that it cannot afford to sign it for the sake of the country's national interests, in particular because certain parts of the protocol would hinder the country's infrastructure development. Thus, Erdoğan's remarks signaling that it could sign the treaty, although on special conditions, came as a landmark declaration showing the Turkish government's political will for contributing to global actions against global warming.
"Today, climate change is the greatest environmental threat that humanity faces. It is also a fact that greenhouse gas emissions are the main reason for this global phenomenon. One of the most unfair aspects of climate change is that the countries that are most adversely affected by this problem are the ones bearing the least responsibility for it. Both developing countries and least developed countries should benefit from international mechanisms, funds for adaptation and also new technologies in a more comprehensive manner," Erdoğan said in New York.
"The special circumstances of developing countries should be considered and they should contribute to international efforts within a fair and flexible framework. For this purpose, current mechanisms should be further developed and made accessible; moreover, it is imperative that voluntary and flexible arrangements are elaborated," he added.
Under the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012, developed countries are to cut their emissions by an average of 5.2 from their 1990 levels. The United States rejects this agreement, arguing that it unfairly exempts developing countries like China and India.
Ankara had already announced earlier this year that it is planning measures to curb its fast-rising greenhouse gas emissions as its economy booms. Turkey’s gas emissions rose 75 percent between 1990 and 2004 due to population growth and rapid industrialization.
The government has banned the use of old, polluting cars and has decided to provide incentives to producers of renewable energy for up to 10 years in order to raise the share of renewable energy from its current 1 percent of total consumption. The government plans to spend $60 billion to upgrade its environmental standards as part of its harmonization of legislation with the European Union.
Mitigation, adaptation, technology and financing were the themes of focus at the UN event titled “The Future in our Hands: Addressing the Leadership Challenge of Climate Change,” where Erdoğan addressed world leaders and other heads of delegations as well as a number of civil society and business leaders.
‘Common but differentiated responsibilities’
Bringing up the fact that Turkey is an Annex-I country whose special circumstances had been recognized at the seventh UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties in 2001, Erdoğan underlined that in terms of basic economic indicators, its level of industrialization was not yet at the same level as the large majority of Annex I countries. In 2004, Turkey’s per capita greenhouse gas emissions level was equivalent to 4.1 tons of carbon dioxide, corresponding to a third of the average level of Annex I and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, where the EU and Turkey are listed together, he added.
Elaborating on Turkey’s ongoing efforts for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the prime minister drew attention to the fact that Turkey has attached great importance to continuing its economic development in line with the principle of sustainability and is determined to tackle climate change on the basis of the principles of “equity” and “common but differentiated responsibilities.”
“Turkey is not yet party to the Kyoto Protocol. We are currently in the process of evaluating Turkey’s accession at the highest level. Provided that its special circumstances, setting it apart from the other Annex-I countries is acknowledged, Turkey is favorably considering accession to the Kyoto Protocol,” Erdoğan said. He pointed out the fact that the World Water Forum in March 2009 in İstanbul was a sign demonstrating the sincerity of Turkey’s efforts for contributing to regional and international cooperation in order to minimize the adverse effects of climate change on our water resources.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said also on Monday that world leaders showed a “major political commitment” to forging a pact on climate change once the Kyoto Protocol expires. Ki-moon, who organized the UN event as a forerunner to climate change talks in Bali in December, said the roughly 80 heads of state and government in attendance had given their backing for a new agreement to be made.
“Today I heard a clear call from world leaders for a breakthrough on climate change in Bali,” he said at the end of the meeting. “And I now believe we have a major political commitment to achieving that.”
Countries hope to have a pact in place by 2009 that will take over when the Kyoto treaty expires, but disagreements over whether to make emission reduction targets mandatory and how to apply them to developing nations have hampered progress towards an agreement.
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