Aegean Exporters' Associations Publishes 2025 Sustainability Report

 

Speaking at the press conference, Ege İhracat­çı Birlikleri Coordinator Chairman Jak Eskinazi said, "Today we are not just sharing a report; we are also sharing our hopes, responsibilities and vision for the future. Our world is now showing us clearly: unlimited growth with limited resources is not possible. Threats such as climate change, biodiversity loss and resource depletion require fundamental changes in the way we do business. As Ege İhracat­çı Birlikleri, we act with awareness of our environmental, social and governance responsibilities."

 

Underlining that they transparently share with the public through the "EİB Sustainability Report" the steps they have taken in key areas such as gender equality, circular economy, ethical trade and climate awareness, Eskinazi concluded his remarks as follows: "We want to raise awareness among our exporters about wastewater, energy and not polluting the environment, and if they do pollute, compensating for it by planting trees. Steps taken on sustainability will shed light on our exports and future."

 

Mehmet Ali Işık, Coordinator of Sustainability and Organic Products at Ege İhracat­çı Birlikleri and Chairman of Ege Dry Fruit and Products Exporters Association, emphasizing that sustainability efforts cannot succeed through individual efforts alone, stated that the Green Deal announced by the European Union has accelerated sustainability efforts globally.

 

Expressing that Turkey has committed to contributing to sustainability under the headings of environment, social and governance, Işık said, "The Ministry of Commerce supports sustainability efforts through the Responsible support programme. We must be sharing, we must protect our soil. We want to guide thousands of active exporter companies through governance."

 

Also referring to the frost events that occurred in 36 provinces in April in Turkey and caused major damage to perennial plants, Işık said, "Dry fruit and fresh fruit products were severely affected. In Malatya, there is 95 per cent loss in apricots. There are significant damages in hazelnuts and grapes. We have been experiencing 40-50 per cent product losses in grapes for two years. We expect positive support for our farmers. Our government should extend a helping hand. It must ensure our farmers survive."

 

Noting that Ege İhracat­çı Birlikleri' Sustainability Report is a first among TİM and other exporter associations in Turkey, Nilüfer Arıak, Sustainability Consultant at Ege İhracat­çı Birlikleri, emphasised that serious resource waste has emerged globally because growth has been prioritised, and the issue of sustainability has been overlooked.

 

Pointing out that air temperatures worldwide have risen by 1.7 degrees as of January 2025, Arıak said, "40 species will change, frost, drought, diseases, the problems of non-organic. When we cannot enter transformation and change, we disappear."

 

Emphasising that Turkey's growth depends on external resources, Arıak concluded her remarks as follows: "Our capital is weak, we need to access long-term and low-cost funds. If we are going to export to wealthy markets, we need to produce sustainability-labelled products. The way to do this is to have sustainability reports. It has become a necessity for our companies to focus on sustainability reports."

 

Regarding waste management at Ege İhracat­çı Birlikleri, non-hazardous waste decreased by 5.8 per cent in 2024 compared to 2023. EİB's total waste decreased by 8.4 per cent.

 

The establishment of the ERP system enabled transactions to be carried out in a digital environment, resulting in significant paper consumption savings.

 

Comparing the emission quantities resulting from EİB's vehicle fuel consumption, a 3 per cent increase was observed in 2024 compared to 2023.

 

In 2024, the carbon footprint value resulting from electricity consumption showed a 4 per cent increase compared to 2023. The training, seminars, workshops and similar events realised by EİB were effective in the said increase.

 

At EİB, emission values calculated considering business-related travel were based on data from purchased air tickets and hired vehicles. Whereas in 2023 there were 1,102 domestic flights and 697 international flights, in 2024 domestic flights decreased to 876 and international flights to 511. Total emission values from domestic and international flights were 495.5 tonnes CO2-e in 2023 and 399.4 tonnes CO2-e in 2024.

 

Ege İhracat­çı Birlikleri (EİB), in the framework of combating climate change, aims to minimise environmental impacts from its activities and continuously improve. To reduce emissions, when company vehicles are renewed, models with low emission outputs will be preferred.

 

As part of reducing emissions, applications aimed at reducing electricity consumption are planned to be developed. Unnecessary lighting outside working hours will be switched off, and air conditioning and electronic equipment will be renewed with energy-efficient model preferences.

 

In order to reduce emissions, the use of company vehicles will be encouraged and mandated instead of air travel for short-distance domestic group travel, the number of assigned personnel will be kept to a minimum level, and priority will be given to remote access to training, seminars and meetings with virtual participation options. In line with the goal of minimising waste generation, digital applications will be given priority to minimise paper consumption. Arrangements to reduce the use of single-use plastics will be disseminated and faulty electronic equipment will be repaired and reused.

 

1- By increasing the number of digitally processed documents at our associations' general meetings by 15 per cent year-on-year, contributing to reducing the carbon footprint resulting from paper consumption and delivery periods.

2- Launch of the chatbot and virtual assistant section of the EİB artificial intelligence module in 2025.

3- Transferring printed materials used in our association's events to a digital environment.

4- Transition to electronic signature for sector board meeting decision records within our association in 2025 and for all management board meeting decision records within the next three years.

5- Achieving a 10 per cent increase in the number of international and national projects applied for within the scope of twin transition.

6- Through the B2B Marketplace model, bringing together our exporters with target country buyers and raw material suppliers via digital platforms such as eib.liyiz and Aegean Zone, establishing an effective and sustainable export network.

7- Publication of the EİB Gender Equality Declaration.