Abstract
Turkey is an emerging economy with a growing gross domestic product, which brings with it a rapid increase in energy consumption. Turkey’s per capita GHG emissions increased from 3.88 tons of CO2eq in 1990 to 6.07 tons of CO2eq in 2015. Furthermore, due to being located in the Mediterranean Basin, Turkey is highly vulnerable to such impacts of climate change as temperature rises, flooding and water shortage. Since the early 2000s, there have been several efforts in developing a climate policy in Turkey. The EU accession negotiations have played a catalyst role in pushing the environmental agenda and climate policy forward. However, the current state of climate policy in Turkey is far from being a sound policy framework. Despite the introduction of several policy documents and institutional reforms, GHGs and climatic vulnerabilities of Turkish cities are increasing. This chapter investigates the current state of climate policy in Turkey so as to underline its shortcoming and weaknesses. Following the discussion on the existing situation, a roadmap is proposed to sidestep the existing shortcomings and develop a sound and internationally valid climate policy. The proposed roadmap is believed to facilitate the transition to a low-carbon urban development in Turkish cities.
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- 1.
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is the international treaty adopted in 1992 during the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in order to achieve the goal of “stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system”. The treaty entered into force on 21 March 1994 following the ratification of the convention by a sufficient number of countries. The UNFCCC lists the countries in its annexes according to their economic development levels and sets non-binding limits on GHG emissions for the industrialized (developed) countries and “economies in transition” countries that are included in Annex I. The Annex II is a subset of the Annex I determined in such a way to include the members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The convention requires the Annex II parties to provide developing countries with financial and technical support to assist them in reducing their GHG emissions. For further details, please visit the following website: https://unfccc.int/.
- 2.
Data are obtained from The World Bank via the following link: https://data.worldbank.org/country/turkey.
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- 4.
The Kyoto Protocol is the legally binding document of the UNFCCC. The protocol was adopted in Kyoto (Japan) in 1997 during the third Conference of the Parties Meeting of the UNFCCC and entered into force on 16 February 2005. The Kyoto Protocol sets emissions targets for developed countries (Annex I parties) which are binding under international law. The second commitment period the protocol will finish in 2020 after which the Paris Agreement will enter into force to replace the protocol. For further details, please visit the following website: https://unfccc.int/.
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YEKDEM is the abbreviation for “Yenilenebilir Enerji Kaynakları Destekleme Mekanizması”, which is the phrase for “Support Mechanism for Renewable Energy Sources” in Turkish.
- 6.
The Covenant of Mayors is an EU-based city network launched in 2008. The network aims to bring together thousands of local governments voluntarily committed to implementing the climate- and energy-related objectives set by the EU. In particular, signatory cities pledge action to support the implementation of the EU 40% GHG reduction target by 2030 and the adoption of a joint approach to tackling mitigation and adaptation to climate change. For further details, please visit the following website: https://www.covenantofmayors.eu/en/.
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Balaban, O. (2019). Challenges to Turkey’s Transition to a Low-Carbon Urban Development: A Roadmap for an Effective Climate Change Policy. In: Özdemir Sarı, Ö., Özdemir, S., Uzun, N. (eds) Urban and Regional Planning in Turkey. The Urban Book Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05773-2_13
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