Climate Progress in the First Half of 2023
Rating: C
2023 has been a very peculiar year for Turkey for several reasons. The primary reason is the Presidential and Genera Parliamentary elections held in May 2023. The government provided substantial subsidies to natural Gas and electricity prices to enhance the ruling party’s popularity. The gasoline prices were also kept stable during the pre-election period. The subsidies mentioned above resulted in increases in greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, Turkey’s dependence on coal-fired power plants did not help the efforts to reduce emissions. The only positive action the government and regulator took in 2023 was to increase the penalties on excess emissions by 5-10 times and to continue supporting renewable energy and electric cars. The first locally produced electric car is now on the road.
The latest official emissions data available is as of 2021. Unfortunately, it is impossible to guess when the new data will be released.
The vertical axis on the left is the total Mt CO2 equivalent, and the vertical axis on the right is the Tons of CO2 per capita.
Based on the points mentioned above and the apparent priorities of the government, which is to continue the populist policies, nothing much in the coming months should be expected to improve Turkey’s emission rates.
This Post was submitted by Climate Scorecard Turkey Country Manager Dr Semih Ergur.