Istanbul (AFP) - As it hosts the "COP31" climate summit starting Monday in the city of Antalya, Turkey is placing accelerating the electrical transformation at the top of its priorities, showcasing the boom it is witnessing in the field of renewable energy and its "zero waste" initiative as a means of reducing methane emissions.

Published on: 08/11/2026 - 14:55

But Turkish environmental activists believe that the government is ignoring the major dilemma represented by Türkiye's continued dependence on coal, and covering up the fact that the country has practically become a "dumping ground" for Europe's plastic waste.

When the United Nations summit opens in Antalya on Monday, Turkish Environment Minister Murat Kurum, who is in charge of chairing the conference, will seek to advance Ankara’s pioneering initiative to raise the share of electricity to 35 percent of the total global energy demand by 2035.

The non-binding "35 by 35" goal represents the focus of a ten-point executive agenda on which Türkiye is betting to accelerate the transition to renewable energy sources in parallel with consolidating energy security.

Corum said on Thursday, "This year's energy crisis has shocked us. Today, everyone realizes that imported energy is energy that is out of control. Electrical transformation is the solution, as it protects societies from the fluctuations of global markets and reduces emissions."

He added that the goal of COP31 is to “launch the era of electricity.”

Move towards renewable energy

Turkey has made qualitative leaps in renewable energy infrastructure in recent years, with Energy Minister Alp Arslan Bayraktar unveiling on Thursday an ambitious $500 billion roadmap to electrify the economy and expand the existing production capacity of wind and solar energy fourfold to reach 175 gigawatts.

However, its dependence on coal to generate a third of its electricity needs and the absence of any timetable for its gradual abandonment, in addition to plans to expand two existing coal-based plants coinciding with efforts to transition to electric energy, are all factors that make the COP31 summit a real test of Turkey’s leadership in the climate field, according to what activists say.

Amal Türker Alpay, who co-organizes energy-related campaigns at the Greenpeace branch in Turkey, said, “The real meaning of the transition to electric energy lies in putting an end to dependence on fossil fuels. This should be the ultimate goal.”

She warned that the "35 by 35" goal does not specify that electricity must be generated using clean energy, which is the only way that can have a positive impact on the climate.

She confirmed to Agence France-Presse that "the most important thing will be to comply with the 'principle' of no more coal in Türkiye and to set a date to begin a fair transitional process to abandon fossil fuels."

Unlike Brazil, which hosted last year's edition and placed reducing emissions at the core of the summit's agenda at the time, Turkey largely avoided discussion of the gradual abandonment of fossil fuels, while Bayraktar said that abandoning coal would depend on Turkey intensifying its production of nuclear energy.

Turkey's first nuclear plant is scheduled to become operational by the end of the year, with plans to establish two more.

"A crisis of contradictions"

Turkey and Australia, which is co-hosting the summit and leading the negotiations, have approved goals to reduce emissions that cause global warming, but neither of them has yet adopted any national “road map” that clearly details plans to abandon fossil fuels.

Although Turkey has set a goal of net zero emissions for the year 2053, the Climate Action Tracker project, which tracks governments' climate action, warned last month that its interim goals are still below the desired level, confirming that its overall classification remains in the "severely deficient" category.

The Climate Action Tracker project reported that “Turkey... is facing a crisis of contradictions: while it calls for accelerating action in the climate field, its goals remain weak and lacks the ambition necessary to push towards the necessary reduction in emissions,” calling on Ankara to “strengthen” its goals for the years 2030 and 2035.

Yagiz Eren Abanos, representative of the Center for Spatial Justice, one of 17 environmental organizations within the Turkish Climate Network, stressed the need to radically reconsider the country's climate goals.

He explained that "Turkey does not reduce greenhouse gases, but rather increases them," noting that despite Ankara's pledge to reduce expected emissions by 41 percent by 2035, this realistically translates into a "16 percent increase" from current levels.

Plastic waste

Turkey is also promoting its Zero Waste Initiative, a high-profile environmental diplomacy campaign led by Emine Erdogan, wife of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, aimed at driving international cooperation to reduce methane emissions from waste.

Greenpeace activist Amal Türker Alpay said, “When looking at the action agenda, they seek to reduce the expected global growth in waste by 50 percent by 2035, which is a positive thing in itself.”

But she pointed out that “these policies only focus on managing waste after it is produced, rather than preventing waste at its source. In the absence of stronger commitments to waste prevention and methane reduction, action will lead to little reduction in emissions.”

She explained, "The plastics industry represents a Trojan horse for the fossil fuel sector, as when the extracted fuel cannot be used in energy production, it is diverted directly to the petrochemical industry."

She stressed that “when waste management is limited to recycling, it does not mean much for climate change or emissions.”

© 2026 AFP

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