The Turkish Parliament ratified the Paris Agreement unanimously on October 6, and put it into effect following its publication in the Official Gazette on October 7. Türkiye has been a signatory to the agreement since April 22, 2016 within the framework of the UN Climate Change Conference. Türkiye's parliamentary adoption of the decision by consensus came in ahead of the COP26, slated to take place from October 31 to November 12, 2021 in Glasgow, Scotland.
The Paris Agreement aims to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by stopping global average temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by the end of 21st century, and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius if possible.
As a first step, Türkiye has committed to reduce of 21 percent by 2030, from a projected emission of 1,175 million tons to 929 million tons, and to achieve "net-zero carbon emissions" by 2053, as announced by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Türkiye is expected to update its national climate action plan, officially known as the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), including emission reduction targets in the energy, waste, transportation, buildings, and agriculture sectors and submit them to the UN Secretariat.
Türkiye also plans to organize a council in January 2022, attended by representatives from the private sector, non-governmental organizations, universities, industrialists and international organizations, to examine the long-term strategy.
As part of its efforts to contribute to the fight against climate change, Türkiye is now renaming its Environment and Urbanization Ministry as the Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Ministry, announced President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.