Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe protested against French energy company, Engie, for its investment in a coal-fired thermal power plant in Turkey in a statement on Wednesday.
On the lead up to the Paris COP 21 Climate Change Conference in December, some ecological NGO's in Europe and Turkey made a call to the French government to stop the Ada Yumurtalik thermal power plant project in Iskenderun, which is located in the south of Turkey.
The project is due to have a capacity of 1,320 megawatts and will be operated by French state-owned company, Engie.
'On the one hand, President of France, Francois Hollande, lays stress on the struggle for climate, and on the other hand, French company, Engie, keeps making such thermal power plant investments which are a threat to climate change,' the statement reads.
According to the statement, national and international ecological organizations such as Greenpeace Mediterranean, World Wide Fund for Nature and Iskenderun Environmental Protection Association will send a letter to President Hollande to halt the project.
Currently, Engie has 30 thermal power plants across the world, emitting 81 million tons of carbon which equals the emissions total of the entire energy sector of the Philippines, the statement said.
The number of countries that announced their post 2020 climate action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions ahead of the December COP 21 climate summit has reached 130. Turkey announced its target to decrease emissions by 21 percent by 2030.
By Ugur Serhan Ozcan
Anadolu Agency
ugur.ozcan@aa.com.tr