Challenges to Turkey’s Transition to a Low-Carbon Urban Development: A Roadmap for an Effective Climate Change Policy

Turkey is an emerging economy with a growing gross domestic product, which brings with it a rapid increase in energy consumption. Turkey’s per capita GHG emissions increased from 3.88 tons of CO2eqin 1990 to 6.07 tons of CO2eqin 2015. Furthermore, due to being located in the Mediterranean Basin, Turkey is highly vulnerable to such impacts of climate change as temperature rises, flooding and water shortage. Since the early 2000s, there have been several efforts in developing a climate policy in Turkey. The EU accession negotiations have played a catalyst role in pushing the environmental agenda and climate policy forward. However, the current state of climate policy in Turkey is far from being a sound policy framework. Despite the introduction of several policy documents and institutional reforms, GHGs and climatic vulnerabilities of Turkish cities are increasing. This chapter investigates the current state of climate policy in Turkey so as to underline its shortcoming and weaknesses. Following the discussion on the existing situation, a roadmap is proposed to sidestep the existing shortcomings and develop a sound and internationally valid climate policy. The proposed roadmap is believed to facilitate the transition to a low-carbon urban development in Turkish cities