Carbon market in Turkey and its implications on the control of greenhouse gas emissions

Abstract

In the last decades, the effects of rapid climate change have been commonly recognised. As it is widely accepted, main catalysts for climate change are greenhouse gases. Many governments and communities are making an effort to prevent or at least to limit the emissions of greenhouse gases. For this purpose, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) sets new regulations to parties in order to provide same understanding and identical approach to fight against the hazardous emissions. In this context, Kyoto Protocol appears as an international legally binding agreement aimed at limiting emissions of several greenhouse gases. The Kyoto Protocol now covers more than 160 countries globally. Turkey became a Party to the Kyoto Protocol on 26 August 2009. Turkey defines its situation under UNFCCC as a sui generis case vis-à-vis the current climate regime. Due to its request to be recognized as transition economy, Turkey remained as an Annex-I Party of the UNFCCC but as a later comer to the Kyoto Protocol, Turkey did not have any reduction commitment during the period of 2008-2012. Although Turkey did not have any restrictions, Turkey started to regulate its structure with general environmental objectives set by Turkish Government and developed Voluntary Emission Reduction Market in Turkey. These progresses show that Turkey desires to integrate its climate change policies into development policies. However, the majority of industrial owners in Turkey are not sharing the same aspect as it is adopted by the Turkish Government. Turkey is accepted as one of the fast developing countries and new restrictions considering new environmental policies against global warming intimidate the manufacturers. Therefore, a conflict appeared between these two opposing views, whether to take actively part in Kyoto Protocol or not. The subject is reviewed in this scope to find a significant answer to this discussion.