ISTANBUL (AA) – Minister of Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacır stated that uncontrolled consumption, carried out with the understanding that natural resources are unlimited, deepens environmental problems and said, “If we want to leave a livable world to future generations, we have to act with a renewed awareness of responsibility in every field. he said. Minister Kacır attended the first ministerial session of the Zero Waste Forum 2026, held at Atatürk Airport under the auspices of the Governorship of Istanbul and under the coordination of the Zero Waste Foundation.
Speaking at the High Level Ministers of Industry and Technology Session: Zero Waste and Circular Economy Perspective, Kacır stated that the search for progress and development since the Industrial Revolution has been shaped by the tendency to unlimited consumption, and said that the consequences of the misleading understanding that nature’s resources are unlimited are felt all over the world today. Kacır stated that the developments once again reveal the importance of shared responsibility in sustainability and said, “If we want to leave a livable world to future generations, we have to act with a renewed awareness of responsibility in every field.
he said. Stating that the Zero Waste Movement, which was implemented under the auspices of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s wife, Emine Erdoğan Hanımefendi, contributes to the protection of the environment while transforming waste into economic value, Kacır emphasized that the movement offers a comprehensive transformation model that demonstrates that an understanding of production and consumption in harmony with nature is possible.
Kacır, This movement; It represents a new culture of life that prevents waste, values resources, minimizes losses and is based on balance instead of excessive consumption. As an indication of this, the United Nations General Assembly declared March 30 as International Zero Waste Day. he said. Kacır said that in line with this vision, Türkiye has implemented comprehensive policy and support mechanisms to accelerate the green transformation in the industry and said: In this context, we have restructured our investment incentive system to support the green and circular transformation of the industry more effectively.
We prioritize investments that protect natural resources, increase resource efficiency, support low-carbon production and strengthen the circular economy. We implemented the Green Transformation Program to support companies investing in cleaner and more efficient production. Within the scope of the program, we offer comprehensive support to investments that increase energy and resource efficiency, reduce emissions, ensure the reuse and recovery of waste and improve the environmental performance of production processes.
– Green transformation in line with the National Technology Move Minister Kacır stated that they consider green transformation in line with the National Technology Move not only as an environmental responsibility, but also as a strategic element that enables the development of advanced technologies, increasing innovation capacity and increasing competitiveness in the industry, and shared the following information about the studies carried out in this context: We support R&D activities in critical areas such as climate-friendly technologies, energy efficiency, renewable energy, circular economy, clean production and sustainable materials through the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK).
TÜBİTAK allocated 700 million dollars to 4,500 projects and 4,300 scientists working in the field of green transformation and climate change. TÜBİTAK’s Green Growth Technology Roadmaps reveal critical technologies for green transformation in strategic and high-emission sectors such as iron and steel, aluminum, cement, chemistry, plastic and fertilizer. – International cooperation in green transformation Minister Kacır underlined that green transformation is not an issue that any country can overcome alone, and stated that this process is an area of transformation that requires comprehensive, multi-dimensional and urgent global cooperation.
Kacır stated that a comprehensive transformation process is envisaged in the industry in line with the 2053 net zero emission target and noted the following regarding the projections: In order to achieve the targets, an investment of 71 billion dollars is needed in the iron-steel, cement, aluminum and fertilizer sectors, which have high carbon intensity. In this regard, we have established close cooperation with many international financial institutions, including the valuable representatives who are among us today.
In cooperation with the World Bank, we provided financing of more than 1 billion dollars within the scope of three major projects. Kacır said that in addition to this financing, the work to mobilize 250 million dollars of financing from the Islamic Development Bank for the Sustainable Organized Industrial Zones Project has reached the final stage. Touching on the collaborations aimed at financing and accelerating the green transformation in the industry, Kacır stated that Türkiye supports the transformation process not only with bilateral cooperation mechanisms but also with multilateral financing and coordination tools, and continued: In this context, we established the Turkish Industrial Decarbonization Investment Platform, that is, TIDIP, under the leadership of our ministry and in partnership with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC).
TIDIP is not just a financing platform, but a strategic mechanism that brings together Turkey’s industrial policy and international development finance around a common goal. With TIDIP, we aim to support industrial decarbonization investments of over 5 billion euros and achieve an annual greenhouse gas emission reduction of 20 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2030. Kacır stated that more than one multilateral development bank is in the process of participating in TIDIP and said that the platform will be officially implemented at COP31 as a pioneering initiative supporting decarbonization in the industry.
Stating that Turkey’s COP31 vision is not limited to advancing its own industrial transformation, Kacır stated that they also aim to contribute to making the global transformation process more fair and inclusive and said: At the same time, it once again reveals the importance of the following vision that our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has expressed many times on international platforms: The world is bigger than five and a more just world is possible.
As Turkey, we plan to coordinate the implementation of the Least Developed Countries Green Industrialization Facilitation Mechanism, that is, the LDC-GIF Mechanism, to serve this purpose within the framework of our COP31 Presidency. This mechanism offers an end-to-end capacity building and financing opportunity that transforms projects from the idea stage into investment-ready ventures. Kacır concluded his speech by emphasizing that he believes that Turkey’s development experience can contribute to the green industrialization efforts of partner countries.
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