ANKARA
Turkey needs to do its part to combat climate change and reduce environmental impacts to secure its place as a reputable environmentally-friendly country, the chief economist of the International Energy Agency told Anadolu Agency Tuesday.
Birol evaluated Turkey's role relating to the Special Report on Energy and Climate Change published on June 15 by the International Energy Agency. The report was published ahead of the UN framework convention on climate change to be held in December.
The convention targets a legally binding and universal agreement on climate, with the aim of keeping global warming below 2°C, the acceptable level to prevent catastrophic climate change affects.
The report stresses the importance of having a collective road map for mitigating the effects of climate change and suggests reaching an agreement that is comprehensive, equitable and reflective of national responsibilities during the conference.
Turkey's actions on climate and environmental issues are curiously awaited by other members of the international community, Chief Economist of the IEA, Fatih Birol, said and added that "Turkey needs to behave accordingly and take serious steps in renewable energy, nuclear and energy efficiency."
In this respect, "it is important that laws passed on energy efficiency be implemented in the country," he said.
"We need to consume energy in a way that is environmentally-conscious," he stressed and added that renewable energy will play an important role in this process.
He added that for the most part, the country is dependent on energy imports, and as it is a developing country, this increases its energy demand levels.
"It is vital to think that nuclear energy's presence in the energy sector will gradually increase as it is a source of energy with substantially lower amounts of carbon dioxide emissions," Birol said.
Effect of elections on energy relations
When asked to evaluate the impact of the recent elections in Turkey on energy relations with other countries, Birol commented that whatever model of government is established, relations between Iraq and Turkey would improve further.
Turkey held general elections on June 7 to elect 550 members of parliament from 20 political parties. After 13 years of a single party government, the country is now facing either talks of a coalition, as the AK party missed their quota to form the majority, or a possible re-election.
"Turkey and Iraq have mutually important and economic benefits and there is also a long cultural and historic past. Iraq is an important neighbor," Birol said and added that relations between the two countries look to change in a positive way.
"Economic, geographic, cultural or historic, all indicators point to this," he added.
Iran can be an important oil and gas producer if the country reaches a concrete agreement with the international community; he said in response to the possibility of Iran transferring oil and gas to international markets through Turkey should sanctions be lifted.
He said the country has a significant export potential of about half a million barrels of oil per day, and added the country can increase capacity by continuous global investment and technology transfer but not for a couple years yet.
