Low Carbon Economy and Efficiency is one of the areas where the corporate world needs to focus primarily on combating climate change. Climate change is the shared and most urgent problem of our planet and it poses a great threat for humanity due to the use of fossil fuels and the carbon emissions which emerge as a result of industrial processes.
Low Carbon Economy means a future built on clean energy. Even though fossil fuels continue to constitute a significant part of economic development, the rapidly-decreasing costs of renewable energy promote the investments in this area. Similarly, the market share of the investments in energy efficiency has been increasing. Business world is not only the leading actor in the realization of this transition, but it is also the primary beneficiary, considering the benefits offered by the low carbon economy. Therefore, the triangle consisting of climate change, low carbon economy and energy constitutes an indispensable factor of sustainable development, as mentioned in the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals
Alongside focusing on Energy Efficiency in Buildings, Industry and Vehicles with a focus on Transition to Low Carbon Economy and Productivity, BCSD Turkey also organizes informative seminars on the transition to low carbon economy so that its members can follow global trends.
Buildings constitute our main living and work spaces. That is why a significant part (40%) of our energy consumption takes place in closed spaces. Our Declaration on EEB has been opened for signature in 2013 in order to draw attention to this fact and to promote efforts for energy efficiency in buildings. Every year, new entities join us in our endeavors and also the number of good examples and practices increase. Additionally, keeping in mind that shopping centers also consume significant amounts of energy, a cooperation protocol has been signed with Council of Shopping Centers Turkey (AYD) in 2016 within the scope of EEB activities. With the signature of this protocol, energy efficiency endeavors aimed at shopping centers are improved considerably.
The purpose of “Your Success Story about EEB” magazine is to promote good practices about energy efficiency in buildings in the business world, and to inspire the companies which have not addressed this issue yet. The first and second issue of the magazine were published in 2015 and 2017, respectively. In the first issue, the good practices of 13 companies appeared, and 9 of them were members of BCSD Turkey. And with the second issue, the good practices of 12 companies, amongst which 11 were members of BCSD Turkey, were shared with the business world. As BCSD Turkey, we believe that highlighting, sharing and extending these valuable practices, aimed at energy efficiency in buildings, are as important as realizing those practices.
The Energy Working Group of BCSD Turkey also conducts activities on energy efficiency in vehicles (EEV) which are used in the operations of the member companies, or which constitute their fleet, and in 2015, the Working Group published a study on EEV. The publication highlights the results of an empirical study, and it presents an outstanding opportunity for decreasing the greenhouse gas emissions resulting from both companies’ commercial vehicles and private automobiles. While it covers technical information and data in detail, it also features a pilot implementation as well as good practices of companies from different sectors.
The Energy Working Group organizes capacity-building events and field trips featuring various subjects in line with the requests of its members. The conference on Fight against Climate Change and Private Sector, organized in 2016; technical site visits, organized regularly throughout the year to observe energy efficiency practices on-site; and seminars and training programs, such as ISO 50001 Energy Management System, Electrical Tools in Detail, and TEV Seminar are some of these events.
The working group members have taken part in the field trips in order to observe the energy efficiency applications on the premises. On their trip to the Kanyon shopping mall, the working group observed water efficiency, compost and other applications. The second field trip was to Atatürk Airport, which took place in April 2017. The lighting transformation and trigeneration regulations exercised by the TAV Airports Holding have been examined by the working group members on the premises.
The seminar, which was organized with the help of BSCD Turkey member HED Academy and Türkiye Omurilik Felçlileri Derneği (TOFD) took place on June 2017 and aimed to raise awareness on the topic road and traffic safety. Current situation of the traffic in Turkey, pending hazards for drivers, safe behaviour, safe drive components and facts that are known wrong whilst driving were some of the debated topics. These topics were debated for the purpose of reducing work accidents and life and property loss. Garanti Bank has repeated this seminar to their employees and donated motorized wheelchairs to TOFD.
BSCD Turkey, TÜSİAD and Global Compact Turkey has put into practice the first activity of the planned activity series. The activity was on September 2017 and the subject matter was sustainable development goals. The Republic of Turkey Ministry of Environment and Urbanization Assistant Undersecretary and Climate Change Chief Negotiator Dr. Mehmet Emin Birpınar have participated in this conference. At the conference the role of business for taking action on the climate change has been discussed and the report on combating climate change from the perspective of economic policies was presented.
The seminar on increasing awareness on electric cars was organized by the cooperation of Türkiye Elektrikli ve Hibrid Araçlar Platformu (TEHAD) and EkoRe Renewable Energies and was held on October 2017.