Turkey seeks change in UN climate change agreement

• Countries in Annex-I of the UNFCCC are obliged to transfer environment-friendly technologies to developing countries

• They are also expected to take all necessary steps to encourage, facilitate and finance access to these technologies

Turkey has sought a change in a UN climate framework that could let it off the hook from supplying technology to developing countries, said local reports on Friday, July 23.

The country’s Environment and Urbanization Minister Murat Kurum has reportedly urged US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry to exclude it from the Annex-I list of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or UNFCCC.

He has also asked for the country to receive a fair financial support to implement the convention, said the local reports.

Countries in Annex-I of the framework are obliged to transfer environment-friendly technologies to developing countries.

They are also expected to take all necessary steps to encourage, facilitate and finance access to these technologies, beside other responsibilities.

Turkey was included in Annex-I and Annex-II lists of the convention at the very beginning of the process in 1992 because it was a member of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, or OECD.

The seventh Conference of Parties (COP) of UNFCCC in 2001 adopted a decision to delete Turkey’s name from Annex-II.

Turkey now says it had no historical responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions in 1992 despite being included in Annex-I, since it was then in the last row of the Annex-I list among 36 countries in terms of greenhouse gas emission with per capita ratio of 3.88 tCO₂e, which is less than 1% of the global total.

The average greenhouse gas emission of the Annex-I countries was 14.37 tCO₂e per capita, said the reports.

Turkey has signed the Paris Climate Agreement, which is part of the UNFCCC, and was adopted at the 21st COP in 2015.

However, it is yet to ratify it because the deal places it among developed countries, said the reports.

France and Germany had, with support from the UN and World Bank in 2019, proposed a financial package to Turkey if it ratified the agreement. However, Turkey rejected it because it deemed the package insufficient.