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CategoryRegulatory
Published14 June 2026
Authors
Uğurcan TekinPartner
İnci ÖzçilsalAttorney at Law

Türkiye’s First Climate Law Adopted by the Grand National Assembly

Türkiye has enacted its inaugural Climate Law, representing a major legislative achievement in pursuing environmental sustainability and reduced carbon emissions. For the first time, the country’s climate commitments are anchored in primary legislation rather than in policy documents and secondary regulation.

The legislation addresses escalating climate concerns by transforming existing environmental and energy frameworks. The Law aims to restructure Türkiye’s existing environmental and energy policies in response to worldwide climate threats. The statute establishes the Climate Change Presidency as a central coordinating body while assigning substantial responsibilities to municipal authorities.

The Climate Law restructures Türkiye’s environmental and energy policy around a net-zero trajectory.

Core Objectives

The legislation establishes detailed mechanisms for diminishing greenhouse gas emissions and facilitating climate adaptation. A significant emphasis centres on transitioning toward ecologically sound manufacturing practices. The framework incorporates economic instruments including carbon pricing mechanisms and an Emission Trading System to facilitate this transformation.

Taken together, these objectives mark a shift in regulatory technique: climate policy moves from voluntary reporting and sectoral guidance towards a system of binding obligations, priced allowances and administrative sanctions. For undertakings within scope, climate compliance becomes a matter of statutory duty rather than corporate discretion.

Principal Regulatory Elements

Institutional framework. The Climate Change Presidency receives authority to coordinate governmental initiatives, supervise implementation efforts and establish operational benchmarks. Provincial Climate Change Coordination Boards will operate under gubernatorial leadership in each province, tasked with developing and monitoring regional climate strategies.

Implementation timeline. Public institutions must complete local climate action plans emphasising emission reductions and adaptation using just-transition approaches by 31 December 2027.

Market mechanisms. An Emission Trading System and a Carbon Market Board will manage carbon permits and allocations. A Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism will accompany these initiatives, requiring covered entities to secure permits within three years.

Compliance and funding. Non-compliance generates administrative penalties. Revenues from emissions trading, carbon contributions and enforcement fines support just-transition initiatives within the Climate Change Presidency budget.

  • The Climate Change Presidency coordinates implementation and sets technical standards.
  • A Provincial Climate Change Coordination Board will be established in every province, under the leadership of the governor.
  • Local climate action plans must be prepared by 31 December 2027.
  • An Emission Trading System will be implemented, aligned with the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism.
  • Covered entities must secure permits within three years.
  • Administrative sanctions will apply to non-compliant undertakings.
  • Revenues from the ETS, carbon contributions and fines will be allocated to just-transition projects.
“Revenues generated from the ETS, carbon credits and administrative fines will be allocated to just-transition projects.”
Emission allowances, carbon pricing and border adjustment bring climate obligations directly onto the balance sheet.
Provincial coordination boards will carry national policy into local permitting decisions.

Practical Implications

The Law gives regulators a statutory basis for sector-level carbon budgets and reporting standards. For municipalities, the provincial coordination boards will translate national policy into local permitting, transport and zoning decisions — meaning that climate compliance will increasingly be tested at the local level, not only before central authorities.

For undertakings, the immediate priorities are the identification of installations and activities likely to fall within the scope of the Emission Trading System, the establishment of monitoring, reporting and verification processes capable of withstanding audit, and the assessment of exposure to the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism in export markets. Given the three-year window for securing permits, preparatory work carried out now will materially reduce compliance risk when the obligations take effect.

Contractual arrangements will also require review. Long-term supply, energy purchase and construction agreements concluded before the Law came into force may not allocate carbon costs between the parties, and the emergence of priced allowances makes the absence of such clauses commercially significant. Change-in-law, price adjustment and pass-through provisions should be revisited in that light.

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