This report is in the form of memos from Climate Scorecard Country Managers to Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework to Combat Climate Change (UNFCCC). Below is a description of the progress the country has made made in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions since the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015 and the challenges they still face in order to comply with the IPCC goal of reducing emissions by 50% by 2030.
To: Patricia Espinosa
Executive Secretary
UNFCCC
Subject: Climate Scorecard Progress Report for Turkey
From: Dr. Semih Ergur
Climate Scorecard Turkey Country Manager
I serve as Climate Scorecard Country Manager for Turkey and would like to offer you the following climate mitigation progress report from the perspective of my organization
Since its initial 2015 pledge to the Paris Agreement Turkey has made fair progress in meeting the goal of reducing emissions by 50% by 2030.
Positive Developments
On the positive side Turkey has accomplished the following
- Increased support and incentives have been provided to energy producers that utilize renewable energy sources such as hydro, wind, and solar. The support has been mostly achieved by reducing the tax and the duties on equipment and services. The increase of renewable energy in the world has been around 2-fold between 2015-2020, whereas it has increased 3 times in Turkey in the same period.
- Tax incentives are provided to encourage the purchase of electric vehicles. However, a recent increase in the VAT of electric cars has created some question marks about the effectiveness of the tax incentive policy.
Remaining Challenges
However, the following conditions remain in Turkey that threaten its ability to make further progress, and reach the important goal of reducing emissions by 50% by 2030.
- Turkey only ratified the pledge to the Paris Agreement in October 2021 which helped delay further action that the Turkish Government needs to take.
- The dependence on coal fired thermal power plants is continuing, as hydro and other renewable sources are not enough to fulfill total energy needs.
- The utilization of non-A+ rated house appliances are continuing mainly due to the lower cost of purchasing these devices.
Climate Scorecard is committed to working with other like-minded organizations to support efforts by Turkey to make further progress in its effort to reduce emissions by 50% by 2030 and help the Paris Agreement reach its important goals.