Following the General Assembly deliberations of the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye on 2 July 2025, the Climate Law was adopted and enacted. While climate laws are important instruments of climate policy, the Climate Law adopted in its current form represents a historic missed opportunity for Türkiye’s fight against the climate crisis. Published in the Official Gazette on 9 July 2025 and entering into force on that date, the law fails to meet its stated objective of protecting the climate, nature, and society.
Despite the fact that representatives of the İklim Ağı, established by 15 expert civil society organizations working on climate in Türkiye, attended the Parliamentary Environment Commission meeting on 26 February and conveyed their demands through meetings with Members of Parliament over a two-week period, none of these demands were taken into consideration. During the drafting phase of the law, the views of civil society organizations (CSOs) working in the field of climate were not sought, and climate-focused CSOs were excluded from the process.
In addition to the problems in the legislative process, the content of the law also contains serious shortcomings:
The Climate Law does not include concrete targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which are the cornerstone of combating climate change. Not only does the law fail to present a plan to phase out the use of fossil fuels, such as coal, oil, and gas, which are the primary sources of greenhouse gas emissions, but even the terms “fossil fuels” and “coal” do not appear in the text of the law. This significantly undermines the credibility of the link the current Climate Law establishes with climate change.
The establishment of an Emissions Trading System (ETS), a market-based regulatory instrument, without clearly articulating a position on emissions reductions raises serious concerns. The creation of an ETS without defining any framework measures, such as the removal of fossil fuel subsidies or the establishment of sectoral emissions reduction targets, effectively reduces the process to a commercial activity.
There are also significant deficiencies in oversight and transparency in the law’s implementation. While the law provides that the national emissions reduction target (Nationally Determined Contribution – NDC) will be set under the Climate Change Presidency’s coordination, it does not define a mechanism to ensure meaningful participation by key stakeholders, including civil society and academia, in this process. A review of good-practice examples of climate laws shows that such participation is ensured through independent scientific advisory councils, thereby ensuring that NDCs are science-based. Unfortunately, the adopted law does not include such a structure. Furthermore, the absence of a science-based, independent oversight mechanism to monitor the implementation of the targets and strategies set out in the law undermines confidence in the law’s enforceability.
Moreover, although the law was submitted to Parliament with the claim of ensuring climate justice, it fails to include concrete measures to realise this objective:
- It lacks a just transition mechanism to protect workers and local communities in sectors undergoing technological and economic transformation.
- It does not define provisions to protect vulnerable groups from loss and damage caused by the climate crisis.
- In the use of revenues generated under the law, priority is given to the green transformation of the private sector. Under the regulation adopted by the General Assembly, only 10% of revenues generated under the law are earmarked for green transformation and the fight against climate change in the context of a just transition. This share is highly inadequate from a climate justice perspective. Moreover, no binding mechanism has been defined regarding how and for whom these funds will be used. In the absence of any policy or roadmap fora just transition, this arrangement does not guarantee that the revenues generated will be used for the benefit of society.
- The regulation does not align with the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) standards on states’ obligations to protect human rights in the context of the climate crisis. At a time when the impacts of the climate crisis are intensifying, disregarding international obligations to protect fundamental rights is a major shortcoming.