Warming the World or Battening on It: We Are Still at the Same Phase of Finding Fire

When we talk about climate change, it is inevitable to talk about the passion to “progress/improve”, because the tale of a growing need for energy depends on it. We interviewed Elif Gündüzyeli, Turkey Climate and Energy Policy Coordinator for CAN Europe about climate change.

Climate change is a matter of question throughout the world but seemingly, it is hardly spoken about in our government. Is it really the case or is it debated politically? How would you evaluate?

Actually, there is nobody other than Trump that argues if climate change really exists or not. A respectable number of Republicans says that precautions regarding climate change must be taken, too. Because not only poor regions are affected by it recently. Rich and mostly republican regions such as Florida get also affected. In Turkey, climate change is rarely spoken. Neither as taking actions nor making policies. If it had been discussed even as a diplomatic issue, Turkey would have signed the Paris Agreement. Climate Department of the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization would not have been a unit dealing only with diplomatic negotiations; there would have been a commission regarding climate change. However, the case is really different. As for taking actions; when the government does not have a plan, program, an updated data, a commission or a committee, it is hard for policy makers to take actions. For an effective national climate act, we need a progressive, realist team to set short-medium and long-term goals and create capacity. Without it, actions and calls of some enthusiastic politicians do not become a national climate act.