Turkey’s Green Deal road map released

ISTANBUL / ANKARA

The Turkish Trade Ministry on July 16 released its detailed plan to adapt with the European Green Deal standards in its economic activity, particularly the exporting sectors.

The Green Deal Action Plan, which includes 32 objectives and 81 actions under nine headlines, aims to support Turkey’s transition to a more sustainable and source-efficient economy in accordance with its development targets, the ministry said in a statement.

In this respect, the plan aims at protecting and increasing competitiveness in international trade, as well as enhancing the Turkish economy’s integration with the European Union through the Customs Union Agreement, the statement added.

Attracting green investments to the country is among the major goals of the plan, according to the ministry.

While incentives will be channeled to facilities with advanced waste management systems and energy efficiency plans, the Treasury and Finance Ministry will prepare the Sustainable Bonds Framework Document and guidebooks for green bonds and green sukuks.

In a parallel move, a presidential circular was published in the Official Gazette on July 16 regarding the establishment of the European Green Deal Working Group.

The working group, which will include stakeholders from the public bodies and the private sector, will make efforts to reinforce Turkey’s position in the global supply chain and attract green investments to the country, the circular said.

Meanwhile, Trade Minister Mehmet Muş underlined the importance of close cooperation with EU countries on the Green Deal during a breakfast meeting with European ambassadors on July 16.

More than 40 percent of Turkish exports are sent to the EU countries and the trade volume between Turkey and the European bloc hit $140 billion last year.

“Updating the Customs Union will serve the benefits of both sides in a win-win relationship,” said Muş.

Technical studies between Turkey and the EU will start immediately to prevent any interruption of free cross-border movement of goods, he added.

Muş also said that the EU’s decision to extend protective measures regarding steel imports from Turkey for three years was disappointing.

EU forces pace on carbon cuts

The EU is using its heft as a wealthy trade bloc of half a billion consumers to set the global pace of climate change action, challenging others to match the ambitions of its latest carbon cutting plans.

In its most ambitious bid yet to hit a goal of cutting net greenhouse gas emissions by 55 percent from 1990 levels by 2030, the EU on July 14 laid out proposals that would consign the internal combustion engine to history and raise the cost of emitting carbon for heating, transport and factories.

A proposed carbon border levy would seek to impose on trading partners a carbon price reflecting the level set by the EU’s carbon emissions market, the largest of its kind in the world.

Paolo Gentiloni, the European Commissioner for economic matters, said a 10-year transition from 2026 for the carbon levy on goods such as steel, fertilizer and cement, would give others time to adapt.

With aluminum, cement, electricity, fertilizer, iron and steel the initial products targeted, it could have impact on economies such as Russia and Turkey. Moscow estimates $7.6 billion of its goods could be subject to the EU levy.

The levy could trigger a World Trade Organization challenge, although the EU executive says it is legally sound.

The EU accounts for just 8 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions itself.