Turkey ratified the Paris climate accord after its exports were threatened by a planned European Union carbon border tax, Politico reported at the weekend, citing the country’s climate envoy.
Turkey’s parliament ratified the 2015 accord last month, becoming the last legislature of G20 countries to do so.
While a $3.2 billion guarantee of financial support for Turkey by Germany and France proved decisive in the decision, the European Commission’s plans to tax imports from countries without carbon pricing also played a key role, said envoy Mehmet Emin Birpınar.
The carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) poses “a very big threat” to Turkey “because 48 percent of Turkish exports go to the EU”, said Birpınar, who is deputy environment minister and Turkey’s chief negotiator at the COP26 climate summit.
“What we have decided (on the Paris Agreement), that was one of the reasons, for sure,” he said.
Birpınar said he expects a climate law to be ready in three to four months that will address “Green Deal issues”. It will also introduce a carbon price to avoid getting hit by CBAM, he said.
Turkey’s national emissions trading scheme would need to be “similar to the European Union”, Birpınar said.
Politico said the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development warned this summer that Turkish businesses could face more than €750 million a year of extra costs under CBAM. It encouraged Ankara to ratify the Paris accord, start the emissions trading system and set net-zero emissions goals.
Turkey has now set 2053 as a net-zero target for carbon emissions, but it has yet to submit an updated climate action plan to the United Nations as required under the Paris Agreement.
At COP26, it did not sign up to pledges on slashing methane emissions or phasing out coal, Politico said.
Birpınar dodged questions on coal, which supplies about a quarter of Turkey’s power needs.
Ahval