Turkey needs to follow up with the concrete steps it has taken towards more renewables deployment by allocating 350 billion Turkish liras ($84.45 billion) for this sector and related sources, Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek said on Wednesday.
Speaking at Turkish Industry and Business Association's (TUSIAD) meeting in Istanbul, Simsek said that the Turkish government is actively supporting renewable energy development both through taxation and incentives.
Underlining that climate change is 'a reality', Simsek noted that 10.5 million tonnes of coal, 9.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas and 95 million barrels of oil are consumed daily while 95 million cubic meters greenhouse gas emissions are being released into the atmosphere.
The deputy minister warned that, if not stopped, the effects of climate change would be serious, while acknowledging that energy plays a critical role in tackling this.
A study by United Nations Development Program (UNDP) shows that the economic costs of a lower climate change scenario would be $21 trillion and a worse case scenario could reach $33 trillion, according to Simsek.
The report, released by UNDP, showed that the world鈥檚 gross domestic product would fall by $21 trillion by 2050, compared to $33 trillion under a 鈥榖usiness-as-usual鈥� approach that allows global warming of 2.5 degrees. This saving of $12 trillion represents about 10 percent of global GDP.
"Since these economical costs are really high, our businesses and governments need to take action by developing policies and forming investments in this direction from this day on," he warned.
Highlighting the importance of public-private partnership, Simsek said that increased bonds issuance would finance investments to prevent climate change.
"Turkey is aware of this. Some of our banks came together and signed an agreement about this. However I was informed that the public banks are not yet involved."
鈥淚 want to call on public banks to play a pioneering role in this matter," he said.
Simsek called on the global community to provide more incentives for renewable energy.
"There are many incentives in Turkey given to solar, wind and geothermal energy. This must be continued and boosted more and more. Environmentally-friendly products also need to be supported and incentivized," he said.
Turkey aims to decrease greenhouse gas emissions by 21 percent by 2030, from 440 million tonnes in 2012 to 929 million tonnes in 2030.
In the 'business as usual' case, the country would release 1.175 million tonnes by 2030.
Reporting by Ugur Aslanhan, Handan Gunes
Writing by Ebru Sengul
Anadolu Agency
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