On Wednesday, Turkey became the last G20 country to ratify the landmark 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change. The move comes weeks before the annual climate summit (COP 26), which will be held in Glasgow, Scotland.
353 members of the parliament voted unanimously to ratify the agreement. A statement released by the parliament said Turkey was ratifying the deal as a developing country and would implement it as long as it did not “harm its right to social and economic development.”
While Ankara was one of the original signatories of the 2015 agreement, it has stalled ratifying the deal for years by arguing that it is unfair to the country. Turkey has objected to its classification in the deal as a developed country and is seeking a change its categorisation to a developing country.
Currently, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) lists Turkey as an Annex I country, along with the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Australia. Annex I or industrialised countries have to account for their historical responsibility for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and take extra measures to reduce the impact of climate change. Turkey argues that it has no historical responsibility for GHG emissions and thus views the categorisation thrust upon it as unjust.
Moreover, Turkey has noted that while the Paris Agreement lists the responsibilities of ‘developed’ and ‘developing’ countries, the deal does not define these categorisations and does not refer to the UNFCCC annexes. Therefore, since Turkey has already been listed as an Annex I country, the agreement assumes that it is a developed country.
Turkey has called for more clarification in this regard and has sent a proposal to the UNFCCC Secretariat in Bonn, Germany to have its name removed from the Annex I list. If removed from the list, Turkey would benefit from investment, insurance, and technology transfer provided to developing countries as part of the agreement.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told the UN General Assembly in September that Turkey plans to ratify the Paris deal while stressing that countries with a “historical responsibility” for climate change should make the greatest effort. “Whoever made the most damage to nature, our air, our water, our soil, the earth; whoever savagely exploited natural resources needs to make the largest contribution to the fight against climate change,” he said.
Meanwhile, the parliament’s ratification of the Paris climate deal was welcomed by the UN, which stated that the move will contribute towards global efforts to combat climate change. Stéphane Dujarric, the spokesperson for UN Secretary-General António Guterres, told Anadolu Agency on Wednesday that Turkey’s move should encourage “all countries [to] continue to boost ambition” to deal with the ongoing climate crisis.
Turkey has been severely affected by climate change and recently witnessed heavy flooding and wildfires, driven by a deadly heatwave, that killed hundreds and destroyed property and infrastructure. According to a recent United Nations report, climate scientists believe that humans burning fossil fuels has led to severe global warming and rapidly rising sea levels, accelerating extreme weather events like floods, heatwaves, and droughts.