Half Way towards 2020 Deadline: An Analysis of the Current Situation of Implementation of National Climate Change Strategy of Turkey

It has been five years since the inception of the National Climate Strategy of Turkey which aimed at reaching a considerable number of goals regarding climate change, by 2020. This Strategy guided the subsequently drafted Climate Change Action Plan which listed concrete actions to be accomplished starting from 2011, until 2023. The Strategy has been approved by the High Planning Council (Yüksek Planlama Kurulu) in Turkey, giving the document a stronger official endorsement, something that the Action Plan lacks. That is why this brief article focuses on the Strategy document which seemed to have a higher legal status compared to the Action Plan. According to preliminary analysis, nevertheless, Turkey falls short of achieving most of the goals enshrined in its climate strategy. Given the continued inertia in taking the issue of climate change as a number one priority in Turkey, it is very likely that bulk of the goals of the strategy will remain untouched by 2020.

Turkey has established a Climate Coordination Board in as early as 2001. Membership of the Board currently includes a large number of ministries and other relevant institutions: Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology, Ministry of Environment and Urbanization (Coordinator), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, Ministry of Development, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Forestry and Water Affairs, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Transportation, Maritime Affairs and Communication, Undersecretariat of Treasury, Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Ex- changes (Turkish acronym, TOBB) and Turkish Industry and Business Association (Turkish acronym, TUSIAD). Additionally, there are eleven working groups, assisting the activities of the Board. It is significant to note that the Ministry of Environment and Urbanizations appears to be the main responsible institution with regard to climate change.

However, although such an broad network of actors has been established in order to tackle with the climate change challenges in Turkey, little has been done in the context of the National Climate Change Strategy. It could be better to summarize, first, the substance of the document, i.e. what the Strategy has pledged to achieve.

The National Strategy is an inclusive document covering a lot of ground. This is one of the positive elements in the Strategy. Having regard of the interlinkages among relevant sectors, actors and problems, it presents a holistic approach for dealing with climate change related problems in Turkey. The National Strategy, which underlines -once again- the special circumstances of Turkey,lists a set of objectives to be implemented:a) the short-term (within one year), b) the mid-term (undertaken or completed within 1 to 3 years), and c) long-term (undertaken over a 10 year period). All these objectives are grouped in five headings: 1-Greenhouse Gas Emission Control, 2-Adaptation to Climate Change, 3-Technology Developmentand Technology Transfer, 4-Finance, 5-Training, Capacity Developmentand Institutional Infrastructure. It should be noted that the objectives under the heading of Greenhouse Gas Emission Control are further divided according to sectors including energy, transportation, industry, waste; and land use, agriculture and forestry. Following these sections, a section on monitoring and evaluation presents the main procedures for achieving successful implementation of the Strategy.

One of the apparent problems in the listed objectives lies in the fact that they mostly lack measurability which largely prevents the Strategy to be tested. To illustrate,one of the objectives under the transportation heading reads: “the use of alternative fuels and clean vehicle technologies in public transport vehicles will be expanded in cities”. Can introduction of even a single alternative bus, for instance, be sufficient to satisfy this objective? This abstract rhetoric demonstrates itself in a number of objectives, whether they are short, medium or long-term. In short, the Strategy refrains from mentioning quantifiable goals making it quite difficult to evaluate the achievements and failures.

While these objectives could have been written intentionally in this fashion, there are still reference points where -at least- some of the objectives could be put into test after five years from the inception of the Strategy. This is mainly because nothing has been done in relation to some of the objectives. For instance, expansion of pellet use as a fuel in heating was not encouraged although it was stated as one of the objectives in the short run. All in all, having regard of the reluctance of Turkey in the last half-decade, it would be reasonable to expect a similar path during the next five years towards the deadline, i.e. 2020.

One of the biggest impediments in reaching the goals of the strategy lies in Turkey’s continued hesitance towards an understanding of socio-economic development which will simultaneously take into account of environmental concerns. Despite continuous weakening as a discourse, it is still the mainstream understanding in Turkish institutional structures that trying to satisfy the environmental targets will restrict, if not halt, economic growth in Turkey, through mainly  increasing the burden on the industry.