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Writer: Cansu Kızılkaya
With the news of severe fires from all over the world, the headlines of “the warmest summer or the coldest winter of the last 50 years” that we are familiar to see every year, and the distinct differences of seasons and weather events, the effects of climate change have become tangible. Just to give an example, according to the BBC’s research, the number of days when the air temperature is above 50 degrees Celsius has doubled in the last 40 years, and this temperature is now seen in more places in the world. 1
Climate change, that every individual, every company, every country, so the whole world has to fight against, and considering the cause of it, its solution is just as complex and multi-component. In every moment of our daily life, in every message we send each other, every e-mail we send, every time we get on a car or plane, we leave a carbon footprint and become a part of this process without even thinking about it. Although what we can do individually is limited, it is never worthless. Of course, the most of the work still falls upon big companies and governments. At this point, let’s take a brief look at the recent steps our country has taken to protect our world, the Paris Climate Agreement it has recently ratified, and the COP26 held in November, from the perspective of Türkiye.
“Zero Waste”; is explained as a target defined as a waste management philosophy that includes preventing waste, using resources more efficiently, preventing or minimizing waste generation by reviewing the causes of waste generation, and collecting waste separately at the source and ensuring its recovery in case of occurrence. 2
The Zero Waste was implemented in our country in 2017, and the plastic bags that we are all familiar with, are now become paid, the changes made in the environmental law, the Zero Waste regulation, awareness-raising activities were carried out within the scope of this project.
The steps taken within the scope of combating the climate crisis in the international arena encourage countries and the business world to take action.
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), made many years ago, is the first intergovernmental agreement on the environment. Every year after 1994, when the Convention entered into force, the “Conference of Parties” is held, and these conferences are briefly called COP that the name we are familiar with.
In 1997, at the Third Conference of the Parties (COP 3), the Kyoto Protocol, which includes the first greenhouse gas reduction targets, was accepted, and due to the fact that the agreement will expire in 2020, 196 party countries have accepted the international Paris Convention, which is legally binding in the field of environment, within the scope of COP 21 held in Paris in 2015. Among the main objectives of the Paris Agreement, which came into effect in November 2016, are:
-Limiting the increase in global average surface temperature to 2 degrees, keeping it below 1.5 degrees, if possible, in order to prevent the climate crisis,
-Strengthening the ability of countries to cope with the effects of climate change and supporting them in their efforts.
Although Türkiye is a signatory country to this agreement, it has not put the agreement into force. The main reason why the agreement has not been ratified so far is considered to be the uncertainty in Türkiye’s positioning:
'Developed countries within the scope of UNFCCC and other Parties included in Annex-I make greenhouse gas emission reductions developed countries and other Parties included in Annex-II are also obliged to provide financial support to other countries.
Türkiye was included in both annexes at the time the Convention entered into force, and with the Decision No. 26/CP.7 taken at the 7th Conference of the Parties held in 2001 Türkiye’s name was removed from the Annex-II list of the UNFCCC, but its special conditions have been accepted and it has remained in the ANNEX-I list.'
ANNEX-I countries mentioned in this statement refer to Central and Eastern European countries in transition to a market economy, and ANNEX-II refers to OECD countries. Türkiye became a party to the UNFCCC in 2004, after excluded from the ANNEX-II category. In addition to the above distinction, these listings also determine the financial obligations of countries.
Shortly after Türkiye became a party to the Paris convention, the 26th Conference of the Parties was held in Glasgow between 31 October- 12 November 2021. There are many different comments, positive and negative criticisms regarding the results of the conference, both in the international arena and in our country. Among the prominent topics are commitments such as combating deforestation, transition from coal to clean energy, zero-emission vehicles, and climate finance.Türkiye has 4 undersigned commitments within the scope of COP 26;
COP 26 is important because it is the conference in which Türkiye participated as a party to the Paris Climate Agreement. On the other hand, Türkiye has clearly taken its place in the fight against the climate crisis by making a commitment to become net zero carbon in 2053. Despite all these developments and joint declarations, it remains a question mark whether the commitments can be fulfilled. According to the report published by “Climate Action Tracker” (CAT), the world is moving towards a temperature increase of 2.4 degrees despite the commitments related to the climate. Stating that the action plans are very inadequate and unreliable according to the commitments of the vast majority of countries, CAT also has country-specific evaluations. In this context, Türkiye’s general evaluation is “Critically insufficient” . 4
While common goals of struggle against the climate crisis that threatens us all are very valuable, it is inevitable that more concrete action plans should be produced. An approach such as ignoring diseases that have long-term effects is also in question for the fight against the climate crisis, it is important to raise awareness, but unfortunately this 'disease' has already passed its initial stage.
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