TÜSİAD Webinar on How the European Green Deal Will Affect The Business in Turkey?

In his speech in the webinar session, İsmail Bulut, CEO of Turkish Cement Manufacturers' Association, responded to the questions about the goals of reducing the carbon emissions to zero level by 2050. Bulut assessed the reflections of that process into Turkey's industry and said, "As the cement sector, we keep close track of the EU's climate and environmental policies. In this scope, my opinion is that we have started our process of transition to low-carbon production," and he continued as follows:

“Our sector has made significant progresses in low-carbon production. What are they? Energy efficiency investments, use of biomass, power generation from waste heat, and production of cement with admixtures. Nevertheless, we need regulations that will surpass the bottlenecks we have identified in these areas to reduce our carbon emissions more and more.” Bulut shared the bottlenecks and his suggestions of solution in the subsequent sections of the session.

In his assessment about the impacts of the regulations stipulated to be implemented within the scope of the Mechanism of Carbon Regulation at Borders on the sector, Bulut said, "Currently, the share of the tonnage of Turkey's total exports of clinker and cement to the EU 27 states is about 9-10%. In this scope, it is important for the European Commission to stipulate the principles concerning cross-border regulations. We can say that trade with the EU includes uncertainties for all non-EU countries for the time being.

The regulation must comply with the Customs Union agreement with the European Union and the World Trade Organization. At this point, the initiatives and feedback of our Ministry of Commerce are substantially important."