Finally, we experienced a historic approval process on a new climate change agreement on 12 December 2015. The 21^st Session Conference of the Parties (COP 21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) took place in Paris from 30 November to 12 December 2015 with the participation of 195 countries’ political leaders. During COP 21, member countries of the UNFCCC negotiated a new international climate change agreement which will replace the Kyoto Protocol.

The core objective is to hold the increase in global average temperature below 2°C by 2100, which is the level of reducing extreme impacts of climate change.

In the run-up to the UN conference, more than 180 countries covering nearly 95% global emissions submitted their national contributions (Intended Nationally Determined Contributions-INDCs) for a new agreement. However, there were considerable questions on how these contributions compare to each other and on how financial and technology supports from developed countries to developing and poorest countries will be managed while tackling climate change risks.

More importantly, the current INDCs could only enable “slow” reduction on emissions for the near-future, as mentioned by the UNFCCC’s INDCs Synthesis Report. This slow reduction will end up with global warming above 2°C.

Compared to previous draft texts negotiated during the second week of COP 21, the updated and more ambitious draft text was released by the Comité de Paris (COP 21 Presidency) on 12 December. 200 governments’ representatives adopted the Paris Agreement and the 7^th meeting of the Presidency was convened in the same day to review the agreement.

Here’s the Most Critical Articles of The Agreement

• The agreement maintains to include the term of “common but differentiated responsibilities” of developed and developing countries (Article 2.2).
• Further, holding the global warming increase below 2°C above pre-industrial level and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C is emphasized in the agreement (Article 2a).
• Developed countries will continue take the lead by undertaking emission reduction targets while developing countries continue to enhance their mitigation efforts (Article 4.4).  
• National contributions will be review every five years. In the long-term goals, it is referred as the “global stocktake” which will be firstly undertaken in 2023 (Article 14).
• “Loss and Damage” mechanism and the Warsaw International Mechanism that were adopted at COP 19 in 2013 will be strengthened (Article 8).
• “Emissions neutrality” is included as a new term in the agreement (Article 3).

Full version of the Paris Agreement can be seen here.

Turkey’s Position in Paris

Turkey’s demand was mainly based on the “common but different responsibilities” in the light of different national circumstances. In this point, Turkey demanded to be defined as a “developing country”, particularly as a member of OECD and a country which is listed in Annex-I of the UNFCCC. Therefore, Turkey asked developed countries to be provided the technology transfer and financial support mechanisms in a new climate regime.

During the final plenary of COP 21, Turkey’s Delegation made a speech about the agreement and Turkey’s key messages mentioned above: “Turkey will wait for promised commitments included in the agreement” stated by Turkey’s Delegation.

Apart from that, Turkey already submitted its INDC to the UN on 30 September 2015. Turkey aims to reduce its emissions by 21% below “business-as-usual” scenario in 2030. 

Which Sectors Will Be Affected By The Agreement in Turkey?

Energy, industry, electricity, agriculture and waste are expected to move to a serious revision process when Turkey officially signs the agreement. Turkey is not included in EU’s Emission Trading Scheme. However, the implementation of Turkey’s national carbon market is under consideration. The Regulation on Monitoring on Greenhouse Gas Emissions (MRV regulation) came into force in Turkey in 2012. The Regulation requires facilities to submit their first “verified” monitoring reports on emissions to the Ministry of Environment and Urbanisation until April 2016. Steam production, electricity, iron and steel, paper, glass and ceramic are expected to be affected by the Regulation.

Turkey is also one of the players in the Voluntary Carbon Markets (VCMs). The top projects prepared under the VCMs in Turkey focus on hydro-electric stations. Projects under the VCMs focusing on hydro-electric stations are followed by wind energy.