Turkey could cut greenhouse-gas emissions by 20 percent in 15 years听by increasing renewable听energy听sources -- including solar, wind and geothermal power -- according to a report revealed on Wednesday.
Environmentally friendly policies -- which may hurt energy-dependent Turkey鈥檚 finances at first -- would pay off in the long run, the report鈥檚 authors claim.
The 100-page document,听prepared jointly by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the Istanbul Policy Center, an independent policy research institute, was introduced at a press conference in Karakoy, Istanbul.
The report comes ahead of UN听climate change talks to be held in Paris in December, aimed at setting a new global climate change plan.
Erinc Yeldan, report author and professor of economics at Istanbul鈥檚 Bilkent University, said: 鈥淭hrough this report, we stress that renewable听energy听sources including solar, wind, hydraulics and geothermal energies, should account for around 40 percent of our electricity production by 2030 in Turkey.
鈥淲e could provide [an] over-20-percent decrease in our carbon emissions," he said.听
As of 2010, Turkey鈥檚 per capita aggregate carbon dioxide (CO2)听emissions stand at 4.13 tons. It scores significantly below the OECD average of 10.12 tons, according to the report.
However, Turkey鈥檚 greenhouse gas emission rate as CO2 equivalent in 2013 has increased by 110.4 percent since 1990, according to figures from the Turkish Statistics Institute.
The report also says applying green policies will cause some losses in the national income at first, adding however:听"After 2025, this loss will disappear."
鈥淚f we are patient, a new employment field through renewable听energy听will be created and Turkey will grow much more thanks to these policies,鈥� Yeldan noted.
These renewal听energy听policies will "also decrease the current account deficit by around 25 percent; it will increase听energy听security and contribute in environmental cleaning", he added.
By Nilay Kar听
Anadolu Agency
enerji@aa.com.tr
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