Community climate action Turkey
The aim of this page is to recognise, celebrate and encourage the self-empowerment of Turkish community agency networks (CANs) and community groups' activism in response to Climate emergency. Learn about how communities positively impact through different projects and collaborations.
Muslim environmentalists and academics quote the Quran in support of their environmentalism. In Istanbul in 2015, Islamic leaders urged the world's 1.6 billion Muslims to help defeat climate change.
In 2020 first lady Emine Erdoğan said that “Every wrong step we take can be a disaster for future generations”. In 2019 some Turkish schoolchildren joined the School Strike for Climate.
Children's-rights petition and lawsuit[edit | edit source]
Environmental activist Greta Thunberg and 15 other children filed a petition in 2019 protesting lack of action on the climate crisis by Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, and Turkey saying that, amongst other dangers, more deadly heat waves would affect them and other children in future. The petition challenged the five countries under the Convention on the Rights of the Child: "Comparable emissions to Turkey's rate of emissions would lead to more than 4°C of warming." If the petition is successful, the countries will be asked to respond; however, any suggestions are not legally binding. In 2020, Turkey and 32 other countries were sued at the European Court of Human Rights by a group of Portuguese children. W
Media and arts[edit | edit source]
In the 1990s independent Açık Radyo (Open Radio) broadcast some of the first media coverage of climate change, and its founder Ömer Madra (in Turkish) emphasises "The three Y's in the fight on climate change: Yerel (local) Yatay (horizontal) and Yavaş (slow, no resort to violence)." İklim Haber (Climate News) also covers climate change issues in Turkish and English. Mainstream Turkish media tends to view new coal-fired power stations as increasing employment rather than causing climate change; nearly all media owners have financial interests in fossil fuels. The media covers climate change only during extreme weather events, with insufficient expert opinions or civil-society perspectives. The arts are raising awareness of climate change, and education is supported by the EU. W
Public perception[edit | edit source]
Individual action on climate change is not properly understood (in a survey of primary school teachers many erroneously prioritised using less cosmetics) and neither are government choices on climate change mitigation (in the same survey only a minority correctly prioritised curbing fossil fuel use). Future warming of seawater by Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant is wrongly thought by some to be relevant to climate change.
İklim Haber (Climate News) and KONDA Research and Consultancy found in 2018 that over three-quarters of public opinion on climate change thinks that extreme weather has increased. Over 70% of the public acknowledge that current climate crisis is a result of human activities. Some construction companies have been accused of greenwashing, advertising their buildings as environmentally friendly without obtaining any green building certificates.
In a 2019 E3G poll of six Belt and Road Initiative countries (including Turkey), solar was the most popular energy source and coal the least popular. Twenty-four Turkish cities committed to the Paris Agreement targets that year, and the United Nations Development Programme partnered with the Turkish Basketball Federation in 2020 to raise public awareness of the fight against climate change. A 2020 study found that the level of public support for a potential carbon tax does not depend on whether the proceeds are used for mitigation and adaptation. In 2023 a draft law was proposed including public information and adding climate change to education in Turkey. In 2024 a climate portal was created and Turkish citizens can log in to it.
Citzens data initiative[edit | edit source]
Although a number of issues raised in greenhouse gas inventory reviews have been resolved, dozens more have been outstanding for over three years. Space-based measurements of carbon dioxide are expected to allow public monitoring of the megacity of Istanbul and high emitting power plants in the early-2020s. W
Climate change in Turkey[edit | edit source]
Turkey's annual and maximum temperatures are rising, and 2020 was the third hottest year on record. Turkey will be greatly affected by climate change, and is already experiencing more extreme weather, with droughtsand heatwaves being the main hazards. Current greenhouse gas emissions by Turkey are about 1% of the global total, and energy policy includes heavily subsidizing coal in Turkey. The Environment Ministry co-ordinates adaptation to climate change, and adaptation has been planned for water resources by river basin, and for agriculture. W
Greenhouse gas emissions by Turkey[edit | edit source]
Coal, cars and lorries vent more than a third of Turkey's five hundred million tonnes: iii of annual greenhouse gas emissions. They are mostly carbon dioxide and part of the cause of climate change in Turkey. A quarter of the emissions are from electricity generation.: section 4.2.1
The energy sector, including transport, emitted four hundred million tonnes in 2022.: iv The nation's coal-fired power stations emit the most carbon dioxide, and other significant sources are road vehicles running on petrol or diesel. After coal and oil the third most polluting fuel is fossil gas; which is burnt in Turkey's gas-fired power stations, homes and workplaces. Much methane is belched by livestock; cows alone produce half of the greenhouse gas from agriculture in Turkey.
Economists say that major reasons for Turkey's greenhouse gas emissions are subsidies for coal-fired power stations,: 18 and the lack of a price on carbon pollution.: 1 The 2022 National Energy Plan forecast that 1.7 GW more local coal power would be connected to the grid by 2030.: 15 The Chamber of Engineers says that without subsidies coal-fired power stations would be gradually shutdown. The Right to Clean Air Platform argues that there should be a legal limit on fine airborne dust, much of which comes from car and lorry exhaust. Low-emission zones in cities would both reduce local air pollution and carbon dioxide emissions.
Turkey's share of current global greenhouse gas emissions is 1.3%. Annual per person emissions since the late-2010s have varied around six and a half tonnes, which is about the global average. Although greenhouse gas totals are reported some details, such as the split between cars and lorries, are not published.
The government supports reforestation, electric vehicle manufacturing and low-carbon electricity generation; and is aiming for net zero carbon emissions by 2053. But the long-term plan omits coal phase-out, and its nationally determined contribution to the Paris Agreement on limiting climate change is not to reduce emissions but instead an increase of over 30% by 2030. In 2024 environment minister Murat Kurum said that by Turkey’s net zero year of 2053 half of primary energy would be from renewables and 30% from nuclear, but did not explain how the remaining 20% could be decarbonized. Emissions may have peaked in 2021. Unless Turkey's climate and energy policies are changed the 2053 net zero target will be missed and exporters of high carbon products, such as cement and electricity, will have to pay carbon tariffs. In 2023 there was misinformation about a draft climate law which aims to keep the tariff money within the country by starting carbon emission trading.
