Speaking at the “Carbon Management and Industry” session held within the scope of the 7th Istanbul Carbon E-Summit, TÜRKÇİMENTO CEO Volkan Bozay stated that the Turkish cement industry closely follows the European Union’s climate and environmental policies within the framework of the harmonization process.
The 7th Istanbul Carbon E-Summit, organized in cooperation with the Sustainable Production and Consumption Association and the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization, took place in the digital environment. Organized with the theme of “The Role of Green Recovery, Waste and Energy Management for a Climate Resilient Turkey”, the event was moderated by ITU Faculty Member Prof. Dr. Filiz Karaosmanoğlu.
Volkan Bozay, CEO of TÜRKÇİMENTO, who spoke at the “Carbon Management and Industry” session of the event, where TÜRKÇİMENTO is the Gold Sponsor, said that they closely follow the European Union (EU) climate and environmental policies and the harmonization process of the Turkish cement industry with the aim of leading the works within the framework of sustainability. Bozay said that large investments were made in the sector in terms of energy efficiency investments, biomass use, electricity generation from waste heat and cement with additives. Stating that the cement industry fully complies with the carbon emission legislation in force in Turkey, Bozay continued his speech as follows: “Another important issue in our industry regarding energy efficiency is waste heat recovery. The energy of the hot gases formed during the cement production processes and thrown into the atmosphere from the factory main chimney is converted into electrical energy thanks to the waste heat recovery facilities. Currently, 141.5 MW of electricity is produced in 25 lines in 16 factories. In this way, we meet the electricity need, which corresponds to the daily consumption of approximately 500 thousand houses, only with the waste heat from the production process. We have the potential to invest that much more. The Turkish cement industry produced 8.5% of its total energy from approximately 1.2 million tons of waste in 2020 and saved approximately 500 thousand tons of imported petroleum coke. With our country reaching the waste-to-energy production ratio of 46% in the European Union, it will be possible to further reduce our carbon emissions.”
Paris Agreement will accelerate the Emissions Trading System
Referring to the latest developments regarding the Paris Agreement, Bozay reminded President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s decision to ratify the Paris Agreement next month and made the following assessment: “The Ministry of Environment and Urbanization announced that the Emissions Trading System, which rewards facilities that invest in clean production technologies, will be implemented with the Final Declaration on Combating Climate Change published in 2021. We believe that this process will accelerate with the accession to the Paris Agreement. With the “exemption” clause in the text of the carbon border adjustment mechanism in the draft, the evaluations regarding the establishment of a national emissions trading system in our country gained a new dimension. The option to be exempt from the carbon border adjustment mechanism to be paid to the EU with the national ETS fully compatible with the EU and to evaluate this cost domestically is also on the public agenda. In the emission trading system that is fully compatible with the EU, the production that is not exported to the EU will be priced at a cost of approximately 50-60 Euro/ton CO2, as in the EU. The effects on energy-intensive industries like ours and our stakeholders should be carefully evaluated.”
Volkan Bozay, who said that the national emission trading system and border carbon regulation created models on the economic burden of the different possibilities on the cement industry, stated that the studies on this subject will be completed as soon as possible. Bozay added that with the “Turkish Cement Industry Carbon Roadmap” project initiated by TÜRKÇİMENTO at the end of 2020, they will examine the greenhouse gas emission data of almost all cement factories and create a roadmap for the industry.