Turkey and Sustainable Development Goals: A Nexus Approach to Clean Energy and Climate Action

Abstract

Turkey has always been a strong supporter of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and has worked towards integration of SDGs into its national policies. Turkey has adopted and successfully integrated the concept of "sustainable development" into its NDPs, laws, strategies, and policy documents since the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development. Turkey adopts a holistic approach towards the SDGs and associated SDG targets as interacting with each other. In this context, a strong energy-climate nexus of interactions is especially obvious between SDG 7 and SDG 13. Achieving clean energy in the framework of SDG 7 has clear linkages with SDG 13, since it is mainly focusing on increasing the share of renewables and improving energy efficiency, which would contribute to the SDG 13 targets for combatting global climate change by emission reduction. Turkey's GHG emission projections and performance are at the center of clean energy-climate action nexus. An increase in the use of renewable energy (target 7.2) and increased energy efficiency (target 7.3) have impact on the environment. This increase would not only serve for the main goal of ensuring access to clean energy for all but also is a critical tool in strengthening resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards (target 13.1) and combat with global climate change and GHG emissions. Turkey is working towards achieving these interacting targets simultaneously. Turkey has ambitious policies for ensuring access to clean energy by focusing on increasing the share of renewables and improving energy efficiency in the framework of SDG 7 and sees this policy as a major contribution to achieve SDG 13 targets for combatting global climate change by emission reduction.