EU Aims to Achieve Carbon-Neutral Economy by 2050

The EU aims to reach a carbon-neutral economy by 2050. Within this scope, the energy sector is at the forefront of various initiatives under way. "If we want to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, we must reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the energy sector and shift towards energy production from renewable energy sources," says Ege Exporters Associations, which calls for the implementation in Turkey of a comprehensive investment plan similar to the one applied in the EU to support sectors for the Green Deal, particularly opening up and supporting green investments in energy. Ege Exporters Associations Coordinator President Jak Eskinazi, explaining that energy-related emissions constitute the largest share in carbon emissions: "The European Commission initially announced a strategy called Energy Union in February 2015, in line with potential future climate change policies. Aiming to convert 32% of energy sources to renewable energy by 2030, the EU set out its roadmap with the Renewable Energy Directive. Furthermore, through the Electricity Markets Regulation, it will allocate a larger share to renewable energy in electricity markets and aims to establish an integrated energy market across the EU through the development of cross-border energy infrastructure. In addition to all this, it also published the Building Energy Performance Directive to improve energy performance of buildings. With administrative regulations, member states are expected to prepare a 10-year National Energy and Climate Plan between 2021-2030," he said. Jak Eskinazi continued: "With the smart sector integration strategy, various energy sectors such as electricity, gas, buildings, industry and transport will be integrated to reduce carbon emissions. The use of fossil fuels will be replaced by renewable electricity, and low-carbon fuels will be used in areas where electrification is not possible. According to the offshore and renewable energy strategy, the power of wind at sea, as well as energy resulting from tidal movement or wave motion, is planned to be made available for use with modern technologies. With the Green Deal, digitalization will be encouraged to facilitate clean energy access in all energy supply chains and increase energy savings in buildings. As much as diversifying energy sources, storage of produced energy is also an important issue. With the Strategic Action Plan for batteries, it is planned to increase energy storage capacity."

87.4% of Carbon Emissions Come From Energy Sector

Jak Eskinazi shared that if Turkey falls behind in adapting to the Green Agreement, the cost it will face through the EU's carbon border mechanism could be approximately EUR 1.8 billion annually. "Particularly sectors such as cement, automotive, machinery, iron-steel and textiles will be more affected. The European Union aims to reduce emissions from member states on one hand, while on the other hand it aims to tax products imported from outside the Union through a "carbon border adjustment mechanism" based on their carbon content. In this way, the competitiveness of companies operating with carbon costs within EU borders will be protected, and EU countries will also create an additional revenue for themselves like carbon tax. In total CO2 emissions in 2019, 87.4% came from the energy sector, 34.6% from electricity and heat production, 12.3% from industrial processes and product use sector, and 0.3% from agriculture and waste sectors." Eskinazi stated that the industrial sector maintains first place in electricity consumption: "Electricity produced from coal, liquid fuel and natural gas (fossil fuels) accounts for 56.1% of our total production. Electricity from hydroelectric power accounts for 29.2%. Our electricity production from renewable energy and waste has increased more than tenfold over the past decade, but despite this, our electricity production from renewable energy has only reached a share of 14.7% in our total electricity production. Our electricity production is still significantly dependent on fossil fuels. In 2019, the industrial sector's electricity consumption ranked first with 45% of total consumption, followed by the trade sector at 19.3%, residences at 21.8%, government offices at 5.3%, lighting at 2% and other sectors at 6.6%. Our exporters, who are the most important players in the industrial sector, are also struggling with electricity costs recently," he said. According to Jak Eskinazi, exporters producing their own electricity from renewable energy sources and achieving energy savings will accelerate the process of adapting to the Green Deal, be less affected by carbon tax and help reduce electricity costs. "Our exporters must start sustainability and carbon management as soon as possible. The Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources operates 2 sub-programs called Efficiency Enhancement Projects and Voluntary Agreements. One of the prerequisites that enterprises wishing to apply for both sub-programs must have is that the average of total annual energy consumption for the last 3 years must be at least 500 TEP. Due to the 500 TEP energy consumption requirement, most companies cannot benefit from this incentive. It would be appropriate to reduce the 500 TEP requirement to 250 TEP and thus open the way for more companies and projects to be supported. Energy should be produced from renewable energy sources, investment incentives parallel to the investments made by companies should be expanded, priority investment areas should be expanded within the scope of exporters' expectations." Emphasizing that the investments made by our exporters in renewable energy should be evaluated as priority investments and benefit from Region 5 incentives, Eskinazi stressed that necessary regulations should be made: "Within the support mechanisms implemented by the Ministry of Commerce, there is unfortunately no support mechanism to support the expenses that our exporter companies will make both to provide energy efficiency and to benefit from renewable energy sources instead of fossil fuels within the scope of energy projects to be carried out in their operations. It would be appropriate to issue a special support regulation for supporting consulting, training, machinery/equipment and software etc. expenses made by our exporters in supporting green energy expenditures. Exporters have serious expectations from the Ministry of Commerce on this matter."

What is the Status of Turkey's Total Greenhouse Gas Emission Statistics?

According to the latest published TURKSTAT data, Turkey's total greenhouse gas emissions in 2019 amounted to 506.1 Mt CO2 equivalent. According to greenhouse gas inventory results, Turkey's total greenhouse gas emissions in 2019 decreased by 3.1% compared to the previous year to 506.1 million tonnes (Mt) CO2 equivalent. Per capita total greenhouse gas emissions were calculated as 4 tonnes CO2 eq. in 1990, 6.4 tonnes CO2 eq. in 2018 and 6.1 tonnes CO2 eq. in 2019. As can be seen, greenhouse gas emissions in our country have shown a significant increase over the years in parallel with increases in production and population.