Environment at a Glance Indicators

Türkiye

This country profile features selected environmental indicators from the OECD Core Set, building on harmonised datasets available on OECD Data Explorer. The indicators reflect major environmental issues, including climate, air quality, freshwater resources, waste and the circular economy, biodiversity, and selected policy responses to these issues. Differences with national data sources can occur due to delays in data treatment and publication, or due to different national definitions and measurement methods. The OECD is working with countries and other international organisations to further improve the indicators and the underlying data.

Context

Türkiye is one of the largest OECD economies and the fastest growing in economic, population and urbanisation terms. However, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per person remains below the OECD average. Türkiye has a much larger agricultural sector than other OECD countries. It has a rapidly growing private industrial sector in basic industry, construction, transport and communication. Population density is on average much higher than in the OECD area, but is rather low in most parts of the country.

Türkiye is a coastal and mountainous country. With an area of 779 452 km², it straddles Europe and Asia across the Sea of Marmara and the Istanbul Strait (Bosporus) and Çanakkale Strait (Dardanelles). Türkiye is endowed with relatively few natural resources, mainly lignite, coal, iron, borate and copper. It is water-scarce and erosion-prone country. Its geographical position and geomorphological configuration make it a hotspot of biodiversity. Because Türkiye is located at the intersection of the Mediterranean and Near Eastern gene centres, it is genetically very diverse.

Türkiye has a centralised system of environmental governance, where most powers are exercised by the national government and its territorial institutions, and environmental responsibilities are split across several ministries, namely the Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.

Climate change

CO₂ emissions from fuel combustion have grown at a slower pace than GDP since the 2008 financial crisis and are decreasing since 2017. Per person intensities of both production-based and demand-based CO₂ emissions (footprints) are well below the OECD average.

Total greenhouse gas GHG emissions (excluding LULUCF) have been increasing until 2017 driven by growing energy consumption and transportation; recent years have seen a relative decoupling from GDP growth.

Energy mix

Rapid economic and population growth in the past two decades have driven strong growth in energy demand and in the associated import dependency. The country has significantly expanded its installed capacity of renewable energy sources. Still, the share of renewables in the energy mix remains low, and fossil fuels remain largely dominant.

Air quality

Air emissions

Emissions of most major air pollutants have broadly followed the growth in GDP. They decreased when the effects of the global economic crisis (2008-10) kicked in, then stabilised or slightly increased since 2012. Sulphur oxide (Sox) emission intensities are high. Emissions intensities of other pollutants are below the OECD average. Road transport and power generation are major emission sources, in particular for nitrogen oxide (NOx).

Air quality is a concern, especially in large cities and industrialised regions. Average population exposure to fine particulates (PM_2.5) is high and well above the new guideline value of 5 µ/m³ recommended by the World Health Organization. It is particularly high in large cities and industrialised regions.

Freshwater resources

Use of freshwater resources

Türkiye is not a water-rich country, and water resources are not distributed evenly. Population growth, urbanisation and expansion of irrigation areas generate higher water demand and increase pressures on water resources. Total abstractions have increased since 2007, putting the country under medium water stress. Agriculture is the sector that uses most of abstracted freshwater. Abstractions for public supply per person decreased after the 2008 economic crisis but increased again since 2015.

Data on wastewater treatment levels are incomplete. Connection rates to public wastewater treatment plants have increased significantly but remain below the OECD average. Only a small share of wastewater benefits from tertiary (“advanced”) treatment.

Waste, materials and circular economy

Municipal waste

Generation of municipal waste per person in Türkiye is below the OECD average and has been decreasing until 2016. The share of the population served by municipal waste services increased to over 90%. Most municipal waste is sent to landfills; only small quantities are composted or recycled.

Material consumption

Türkiye is endowed with some natural resources, such as antimony, coal, chromium, mercury, copper, borate, sulphur and iron ore. Material productivity increased over the past decade thanks to high economic growth, and is above the OECD average. Domestic material consumption (DMC) intensity per person peaked in 2011 and decreased afterwards, despite a rebound in 2017. Türkiye’s material footprint intensity grew faster than DMC intensity since 2006, reflecting the increase in imports of intermediate goods.

As in many other OECD countries, construction minerals constitute the bulk of the materials used. The share of fossil energy carriers, especially coal, lignite, oil and natural gas, increased over the past decade.

Biodiversity

Türkiye’s geographical position and geomorphological configuration make it a hotspot of biodiversity. Natural and semi-natural areas have expanded since 1992 mainly thanks to afforestation and reforestation. However, rapid urbanisation that led to urban sprawl, mainly around major cities, and transport and industrial expansion exert growing pressures on the natural environment. The main factors affecting wild life are soil artificialisation, habitat loss and fragmentation, pollution, water use, climate change and invasive species.

Türkiye has an exceptionally rich biodiversity, both in flora and fauna species, 31% of which are endemic. About three-quarters of European flora and fauna species can be found on its territory. Many domestic animal species were originally bred in Anatolia and spread to other regions of the world. Türkiye is also located on two major bird migration routes, making it an important place for feeding and breeding.

Policy instruments

Environmentally-related taxation

Revenue from environmentally related taxes in GDP have been declining drastically since 2010 but remain above the OECD average. The relative proportion of revenue raised from energy taxes decreased over the past two decades, with more revenue raised from motor vehicle and transport taxes. Pollution and resource taxes do not raise much revenue.

Government support to fossil fuels and effective carbon rates (ECR)

Türkiye implicitly supports the consumption of fossil fuels through favourable tax treatments such as tax exemptions, with significant revenue foregone (tax expenditures) related to bitumen and petroleum coke fuels that are used as inputs in many industry sectors. In term of direct budgetary transfers, coal aid to poor families for heating represents the most significant form of support. As a response to the soaring energy prices and following the cancellation of tenders of the Electricity Generation Company to purchase electricity from power plants through the end of 2025, Türkiye introduced several support measures, among which a six-month resource-based price cap mechanism for electricity, natural gas consumption support for the vulnerable households.

GHG emissions are priced via energy taxes. But the share of emissions priced is low. About 40% of GHG emissions are priced and close to zero are priced above 120 EUR/tonne of CO₂. These rates are almost identical when excluding emissions from the combustion of biomass.

Technology and innovation

The share of environmentally-related government R&D budget allocations is below the OECD average and decreasing. By contrast, the share of renewables in public R&D budget for energy is relatively high, at about 40% in 2018.

In terms of environmentally-related patent applications, Türkiye is a marginal player with respect to the size of its economy and population, both in terms of absolute number of patent applications and in terms of share in total inventions.

Environment-related Official Development Assistance (ODA)

Türkiye formally launched its first international assistance programme in 1985, focused on institutional capacity building in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2011, Türkiye hosted the Fourth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries, culminating in the Istanbul Programme of Action. Since 2018, Türkiye has been hosting the United Nations Technology Bank for Least Developed Countries, providing funding and premises for the new institution in Gebze. The volume of Türkiye’s development assistance has increased significantly over the past five years. Türkiye is among the top 10 providers of development co-operation globally, and development co-operation remains an integral part of its proactive foreign policy. Türkiye’s total official development assistance (ODA) (USD 7.1 billion) increased in 2022, representing 0.79% of gross national income (GNI).

References and further reading

CBD (2022), Country profiles: Türkiye, https://www.cbd.int/countries/profile/?country=tr#facts

IEA (2021), Türkiye 2021 Energy Policy Review, IEA Energy Policy Reviews, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/0633467f-en.

OECD (2023), OECD Inventory of Support Measures for Fossil Fuels: Country Notes, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/5a3efe65-en

OECD (2022), OECD Economic Outlook, Volume 2022 Issue 1, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/62d0ca31-en.

OECD (2023), "Türkiye", in Development Co-operation Profiles, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/2dcf1367-en.

OECD (2019), OECD Environmental Performance Reviews: Türkiye 2019, OECD Environmental Performance Reviews, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264309753-en.

Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate change