The Konya Provincial Green Deal Committee, established by Mevlana Development Agency which continues its work in the TR-52 Konya-Karaman Region under the coordination of the Ministry of Industry and Technology General Directorate of Development Agencies, held its first meeting of 2024.

At the meeting, the activities carried out by the committee member institutions in 2023 regarding the European Green Deal, carbon border adjustment, and our country's net zero emission targets, as well as their planned activities for 2024, were discussed.

Following the committee meeting, a seminar titled “Green Transformation Practices in the Basic Metal Industry” was organized in cooperation with Mevlana Development Agency and Konya Chamber of Industry for industrialists operating in the basic metal industry and casting sector, with Tuba Budak Duhbacı, Leader of the Circular Economy and Resource Efficiency Research Group at TÜBİTAK Marmara Research Center, participating as a speaker.

Tuba Budak Duhbacı, who participated as a speaker at the seminar held at Konya Chamber of Industry, made a presentation to the participants on topics such as the European Green Deal, Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, Iron-Steel Sector Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism and Resource Efficiency, Clean Production Studies, and Carbon Reduction Opportunities.

Evaluating the activities carried out by the institution, Mevlana Development Agency Secretary General Dr. İhsan Bostancı said, “The concept of climate change, which we have been hearing frequently especially in recent times, has become one of today's biggest environmental, economic, and even social threats with its characteristic of affecting all countries regardless of their level of development. When the climate change process is viewed from a broader perspective, it is clear that the issue is not just a global warming event, but a fundamental development problem. Because the global transition to a low-carbon economy within the scope of combating climate change envisages a radical transformation that will also change people's lifestyles, production, and manufacturing methods. In short, the “Carbon Border Adjustment,” which can also be defined as the taxation of low-cost but high-emission products imported into the EU market according to their carbon intensity to protect EU producers whose production costs have increased due to environmental regulations from unfair competition, closely concerns many sectors. Indeed, it is on the agenda that the regulation, which started to be implemented in 2023 and is planned to be fully implemented in 2026, will initially focus on products with the highest carbon leakage risk; cement, iron-steel, aluminum, fertilizer, and energy sectors, and then be applied to all sectors. Serious efforts are being made to minimize the effects of this situation. At the forefront of these efforts are the European Green Deal put forward by the EU and the Paris Climate Agreement adopted by the Turkish Grand National Assembly. Our country has set itself a net zero emission target for 2053 within the scope of this agreement and is progressing steadily on this path with the climate change action plans it implements. At this point, great responsibilities fall on all of us for our country, which realizes approximately half of its exports to EU countries, not to fall behind in global competition and to bring this huge resource into the country's economy. As an Agency, in this direction; we have mobilized an investment of 273 Million TL by providing approximately 105 Million TL support in current figures to 33 projects with our technical and financial support programs for increasing the use of renewable energy, disseminating the circular economy, and efficient use of resources, especially energy, for sectors such as manufacturing industry, agriculture, animal husbandry, and tourism. In addition, the Konya Provincial Green Deal Committee, established under the leadership of our Agency for themes related to “Climate Change, European Green Deal, and Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism,” focusing on reducing our province's greenhouse gas emissions and Turkey's “Net Zero” target; continues its work by holding agenda-setting meetings at regular intervals to develop relevant ecosystems, improve them, increase the qualified human resources capacity of institutions, and enhance inter-institutional collaborations. At our last meeting, we had the opportunity to listen to the activities carried out by our committee member institutions in this regard in 2023 and their plans for 2024. In the information seminar we organized in cooperation with our Konya Chamber of Industry, we aimed to inform Konya industrialists operating in the basic metal industry and casting sector, which are among the sectors to be affected by the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, a part of the European Green Deal. As an Agency, we attach great importance to this issue because more than 15% of our country's metal casting production is realized in our city, and our city ranks 3rd in the number of basic metal industry manufacturers. Tuba Budak Duhbacı, Leader of the Circular Economy and Resource Efficiency Research Group at TÜBİTAK Marmara Research Center, who participated as a speaker in our seminar, provided detailed information to our industrialists on issues that closely concern the sector and sector representatives, such as the European Green Deal, Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, Iron-Steel Sector Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism and Resource Efficiency, Clean Production Studies, and Carbon Reduction Opportunities. As an Agency, we are not only structures that implement financial support mechanisms in the regions where we are located, but also catalyst organizations that enlighten public sector representatives, private sector representatives, and non-governmental organizations in areas they need and guide them. Stating that we will continue to stand by all our stakeholders in our region, I hope that both programs we organized will bring benefits to our city, our region, and our country, and I would especially like to state that our Agency's efforts in this direction will continue to increase in the upcoming periods.”