Turkish government ‘focused on energy efficiency’

ISTANBUL

International Finance Corporation Vice President for EMENA Dimitris Tsitsiragos poses before an interview. Company photo

The Turkish government is pro-active and focused on energy efficiency, International Finance Corporation (IFC) Vice President for Emerging Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa (EMENA) Dimitris Tsitsiragos has said.

Turkey’s climate-smart business investment potential is over $89 billion, with energy generation accounting for almost $42 billion, of which $22 billion is in renewables, Tsitsiragos told the Hürriyet Daily News in an interview on Nov. 1 in Istanbul.

The IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, released a report on “Investment Potential in EMENA,” on Nov. 1 at the Climate Business Forum, organized by the Financial Times and IFC.

According to the report, Turkey is one of the countries with the greatest potential in renewable energy, resource efficiency, and climate change adaptation.

“The potential in industrial and consumer energy efficiency is estimated at over $4.5 and $30 billion respectively,” it said, adding that Turkey’s energy supply would be 30 percent renewable by 2023, it the government’s targets are achieved.

Tsitsiragos stated that the IFC was carrying out a number of infrastructure projects in Turkey. “Energy security is very important. The Turkish government is very pro-active and focused on energy efficiency,” he said, adding that Turkey should invest in the clean energy sector including wind, solar, hydropower, biomass and geothermal energy.

The IFC estimates that the EMENA region has an investment potential of $640 billion to 2020.

The IFC is increasingly focused on private sector investment in climate-smart business with a goal to invest $3 billion a year globally in climate-smart projects by 2015 and to tie at least 20 percent of long-term financing directly to climate change, the report said. The IFC invested $2.5 billion in climate-smart business in EMENA over the last four years.