KSO Şahabettin Bilgisu Environment Awards Presented

KSO Shahabettin Bilgisu Environmental Awards Presented The 28th edition of the 'Shahabettin Bilgisu Environmental Awards', open to all of Turkey and organized by Kocaeli Chamber of Industry, was held with 6 companies receiving awards. The 28th edition of the 'Shahabettin Bilgisu Environmental Awards', organized with great care since 1995 by Kocaeli Chamber of Industry to encourage industrial facilities contributing to environmental awareness, environmental protection and improvement, and open to all of Turkey, was held. The award ceremony, hosted by KSO Board Chairman Ayhan Zeytinoğlu and Board of Directors President Hasan Tahsin Tuğrul at Wellborn Luxury Hotel, drew significant attendance from provincial officials and company representatives.

Strong Participation

The ceremony, in which awards were presented to 6 companies in two categories—Major Award and SME Award—was attended by Kocaeli Governor Seddar Yavuz, Metropolitan Mayor Tahir Büyükakın, Başiskele District Governor Necip Çakmak, İzmit Deputy Mayor Ünal Özmural, Kocaeli Chamber of Commerce Board President Akın Doğan, Körfez Chamber of Commerce Acting President Mustafa Gülçan, Düzce Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Tuncay Şahin, Bilgisu Family Representative Akman Yengin, KOÜ General Secretary Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mustafa Eren, KSO Board members, Board of Directors members, provincial officials, political party representatives and company executives.

Shahabettin Bilgisu Remembered

KSO President Ayhan Zeytinoğlu delivered the opening remarks of the organization, arranged to enable productive use of resources against the devastating effects of climate change, to prevent destruction through production and to ensure sustainability. Zeytinoğlu said: "I recall with respect and reverence our late founder Shahabettin Bilgisu, who conducted intensive work on solving environmental problems in the 1970s when the environment was hardly discussed. Shahabettin Bilgisu said: 'Balance in economy and ecology; the secret lies in this balance.'"

Green and Digital Transformation

The world is undergoing serious and rapid transformation. Policies addressing climate change, whose effects are visible and devastating, are on top of the agenda. Normalization in the new world order will be green and digital. Green transformation directly concerns the private sector and SMEs. The goal of the Paris Climate Agreement is to limit global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees. While a 1-degree movement in world temperature occurs once every 150,000 years, we have done this in 150 years. Europe's goal with the EU Green Deal is to become the world's first climate-neutral continent by 2050. Our country set the goal of becoming a carbon-neutral country by 2053. Green transformation means change for carbon-intensive production sectors. The EU's 'Fit for 55' package includes the proposed Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism on the agenda.

Reference to Green Deal

Starting from 2026, exports to the EU in the electricity, aluminum, steel, cement and fertilizer sectors will be subject to carbon certification. This cost will be determined according to prices in the EU ETS system. Turkey can establish its own ETS system and transfer this additional cost to domestic transformation. Going forward, we need to develop strategic plans including: companies shifting to new technologies and developing projects to reduce their carbon footprints; increasing renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and hydroelectric power; making solar energy investments on company rooftops and in organized industrial zones; constructing new buildings with energy efficiency and LEED certification in new investments; increasing waste recycling and materially supporting all these activities."

We Lead in Pilot Projects

Stating that he knew local authorities, public and private sectors' environmental infrastructure investment amounts continue to increase annually and environmental sensitivities are growing, Zeytinoğlu said, "You, our Metropolitan Municipality and our companies have a significant share in these investments in our province. However, we can also say that many pilot projects for environmental protection have begun to be implemented for the first time in our province. Many of these are implementations unique to our province. The Continuous Stack Gas Monitoring System Project started for the first time in our province and spread across the country. Within the project scope, a total of 93 stacks belonging to 35 facilities in our province are monitored, with 715 stacks being monitored in Turkey. Within the Air Quality Determination Project, our province has 13 air quality monitoring stations. Within Air Quality Improvement Projects, for the first time in chemical storage, filling and emptying operations have been conducted in closed systems to prevent odor.

Discussed Projects

Under the Green Eye Project, night vision cameras were installed at 13 facilities. Within waste management-related projects, licensed vehicles transporting hazardous waste are monitored online 24 hours, a project that also started first in our province and later spread nationwide. Additionally, all hazardous waste recovery and disposal companies in our province are continuously monitored online with 24-hour camera systems. Within wastewater-related projects, regarding mucilage, 99 percent of domestic and industrial discharges from our province to the Marmara Sea are treated before discharge. No industrial facility has untreated discharge. Tanker trucks carrying wastewater are monitored with remote tracking systems. Through aircraft and boats belonging to the Metropolitan Municipality, we conduct pollution monitoring in the Gulf. Despite all these activities and applications, only our industrialists are blamed. What distresses us most is that environmental pollution's causes are entirely attributed to industry."

Sensitivity on Environment

Expressing that the Chamber demonstrates sensitivity to environmental issues, Zeytinoğlu stated, "We organize seminars and trainings to inform our members about environmental matters such as environmental regulations, the EU Green Deal, climate change, sustainability, carbon footprint, water footprint and product carbon footprint. Our KSO Environmental Specialization Commission, which includes our Environment Directorate, our Metropolitan Municipality, our universities, organized industrial zones' environmental units and private sector representatives, continues its work. For 3 years we have organized the Process Safety Symposium with record-breaking participation. Within the scope of the Green Deal, we participate in relevant commissions and closely monitor the agenda. We plan to provide consulting services to our members for more advantageous carbon footprint calculation and certification," he said.

We Are Proud

Referring to the KSO Shahabettin Bilgisu Environmental Awards Organization, which holds an important place among the activities carried out, Zeytinoğlu continued: "Through this organization, which we believe is an indicator of sensitivity to the environment, we reward our companies annually. We are proud to have hosted the Shahabettin Bilgisu Environmental Awards, Turkey's first and only award organization in this format, continuously for 28 years. We increase the vitality of our award organization, which is open to all of Turkey, with innovations we bring each year. This year we received applications from 19 companies. 8 of these companies applied from Eskişehir, Yalova, Sakarya, İstanbul, Bursa, Manisa, Elazığ, Batman. First and foremost, from here, we congratulate all our companies that showed the courage to participate in this organization and opened their doors and processes to us. We declare all of them champions.

Good Practice Examples

In the early years when we started the award organization, we considered it sufficient for companies to meet legal requirements when making selections. However, now we take into account good practice examples carried out on environmental matters beyond mandatory requirements. Seeing that projects and applications that need to be done within the scope of Green Deal adaptation are already being carried out or will be started in companies during these visits gives us joy. I would like to address our companies from here. I recommend that our companies open their doors to relevant department students at universities to share these good practice examples and share these applications.

Thanked Contributors

I extend my endless thanks to the valuable jury and field team members consisting of our Kocaeli Environment, Urbanism and Climate Change Provincial Directorate, Kocaeli Industry and Technology Provincial Directorate, Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality, İZAYDAŞ, Kocaeli University, Gebze Technical University, Sakarya University, Okan University, TÜBİTAK-MAM Environment and Clean Production Institute, Gebze Organized Industrial Zone, TOSB Automotive Supply Industry Specialized Organized Industrial Zone, Asım Kibar Organized Industrial Zone and TEMA Foundation, who did not spare their cooperation and contributions to this organization. Our field team spent intensive labor with us for approximately 3 weeks. We also thank them for their dedicated work. Additionally, special discounts are provided by İZAYDAŞ to companies that deserve to receive awards regarding waste disposal. In your presence, we thank our Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality and İZAYDAŞ for this support."

Congratulated Companies

Speaking next, Kocaeli Metropolitan Mayor Tahir Büyükakın talked about the Metropolitan Municipality's environmental investments and congratulated the companies that value the environment and deserve to receive awards. Kocaeli Governor Seddar Yavuz, who had the final say at the organization, expressed sensitivity toward protecting the Marmara Sea, stating, "Our government, governorate and metropolitan municipality have good work regarding the Marmara Sea. When we conclude this work, we will share it with the public, God willing. Because we have very good ideas and plans regarding our Gulf. In this way, we will bring the Gulf to a much better point," and congratulated those who contributed to the organization and the award-winning companies. The awards were then presented to their recipients.

Award-Winning Companies

-Large-Scale Enterprise Category Environmental Grand Award: Otokar Otomotiv ve Savunma Sanayi A.Ş. -Large-Scale Enterprise Category Metal Sector Environmental Award: Borusan Mannesmann Boru San ve Tic A.Ş. -Large-Scale Enterprise Category Stone-Earth Sector Environmental Award: NUH ÇİMENTO SAN. A.Ş. -Large-Scale Enterprise Category Mixed Sector Environmental Award: Ford Otomotiv Sanayi A.Ş.-Eskişehir Fabrikası -Large-Scale Enterprise Category Chemical Sector Environmental Award: Dyo Boya Fabrikaları San. Ve Tic. A.Ş. -SME Category Environmental Grand Award: Bimbo Qsr Turkey Gıda San. Ve Tic. Ltd. Şti.