Türkiye’s first climate law submitted to parliament

ANKARA

The ruling Justice and Development Party has presented Türkiye’s first climate law proposal to the parliament, aiming to institutionalize the fight against climate change.

The draft law, aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions to help Türkiye achieve a net-zero emission economy by 2053, will regulate tools for planning and implementation.

The bill proposes creating a carbon market board and an emissions trading system (ETS).

The ETS, where greenhouse gas emission allowances are traded, along with the carbon market board, will be established by the Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Ministry.

These allowances will be treated as capital market instruments, and the climate change department will generate income to fund climate-friendly investments.

Fines ranging from 500,000 to 5 million Turkish Liras will be imposed on entities that fail to submit their verified greenhouse gas emission reports within the prescribed timeframe.

Businesses without a verified annual greenhouse gas emission report will be subject to fines ranging from 1 million to 10 million liras.

Providing insights into the 20-article proposal, AKP parliamentary head Abdullah Güler emphasized that the party views climate change as a cross-political and global issue.

"Through the climate law, we aim to strengthen the adaptation process of our cities to climate change, enhance the resilience of our economy to climate-related negative impacts, boost the international competitiveness of our sectors and foster the development of cleaner and more efficient production processes across all industries."

Güler also noted that the proposal will be presented to the committee next week and following the committee's review, it will be forwarded to the general assembly for approval.