Turkey Plans Big Changes in Energy Use Before Major Climate Summit

Turkey's energy minister has shared a major new plan to move the country away from coal and other fossil fuels. The announcement came just before world leaders arrive in the Turkish city of Antalya for the COP31 climate summit. The summit is an annual meeting where countries discuss how to fight climate change. Turkey's role as the host nation has put a spotlight on how much coal, oil, and gas it currently uses.

Turkey is the largest coal power producer in Europe. Last year, coal made up 33% of the country's electricity, while solar and wind energy made up about 23%. Because Turkey uses so much coal, many people are watching closely to see if it will make real changes.

Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar presented a plan called the National Energy Plan 2040. He said Turkey wants to switch from coal to cleaner energy sources over the next 13 years. This kind of switch is called electrification, which means using more electricity powered by clean sources instead of burning fossil fuels. Bayraktar said the use of solar and wind energy would more than quadruple — meaning grow to more than four times its current size.

The minister said Turkey's goal is to cut its emissions by 40% by the year 2040. He also said the country wants 36% of all its energy to come from electricity by that year. As one example, electric cars on Turkey's roads would grow from about 500,000 today to 20 million by 2040. This would be a huge change in how people travel.

Bayraktar said making all of this happen would cost around $500 billion over 13 years. About $210 billion would come from Turkish government companies, and much of the rest would need to come from foreign investment. "If the world is serious about carbon neutrality... we need to find the money," he said. He added that every country needs to take some responsibility and help pay for the fight against climate change.

The minister also said it was important to protect workers whose jobs depend on coal mines and power plants. He pointed out that coal mining provides work for at least 30,000 to 40,000 people. "How are we going to make these miners into AI experts or high-tech experts? It's not going to be easy," he said. He called for a "just transition" — a fair and careful shift away from coal that doesn't leave workers behind.

Even with these changes, Turkey will still rely on some fossil fuels for a while. The country recently began drilling for natural gas under the Black Sea, and production is expected to double to 7.5 billion cubic meters per year. Natural gas is cleaner than coal, but it still produces harmful emissions.

Turkey is also expanding its use of nuclear power. A nuclear plant called Akkuyu on the Mediterranean coast is nearly finished, and plans exist for a second plant near the Black Sea. These plants would help Turkey reach its goal of becoming energy independent by 2040.

Not everyone is convinced Turkey is doing enough. A group called the Climate Action Tracker says Turkey's climate goals and policies are "critically insufficient." This means the group believes Turkey is falling far short of the goals set by the 2015 Paris Agreement, which asks countries to keep global temperatures from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius.

As the COP31 summit approaches, Minister Bayraktar said his key message to other countries would be to use "responsive and realistic policies" to reach carbon neutrality. He admitted Turkey has a long road ahead, saying, "We have a huge project list ahead of us." The world will be watching to see if Turkey's words turn into real action.