Turkey has to put more effort against climate change, special adviser to Hollande says

Banu Tuna - ANKARA

Turkey has to put more effort into environmental protection issues and climate change, while citizens should ask more on this front, according to a special adviser to the French president who came to Ankara for a summit.

Nicolas Hulot, the French president’s special envoy for the protection of the planet, told daily Hürriyet that Turkey must show more effort. 

A new protocol on climate change will be signed in Paris between Nov. 30 and Dec. 11, 19 years after the Kyoto protocol, he added.

“This time there is no time to wait. If we want to keep the global warming below its critical level, the global carbon emission levels have to be decreased immediately,” he said. 

“Turkey has contributed on Sept. 30 by joining the 146 countries which committed to reduce their CO2 emissions. But this is not enough. We have to show more effort,” he said.

“Turkey has less than the European or OECD average on carbon dioxide emission per person. But it has a growing population and developing economy. Turkey’s goal has to be using more renewable energy sources and installing the infrastructure for it,” said Hulot. 

Renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, geothermal and sea will also be independent sources of energy for countries, Hulot said, adding that solar power investment decreased 80 percent since 2008.

Hulot also underlined that strong changes can only take place with the citizens’ demands. 

Hulot is in Ankara to attend the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) which has opened its Twelfth Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP12). The summit will last until Oct. 23.

About 100 ministers and heads of state and government are expected to attend the session over the next two weeks in Ankara. COP12 is the first major global meeting since world governments agreed on the Global Goals for Sustainable Development to guide international cooperation on social, economic and environmental action over the next 15 years.