Green energy transition could create 300,000 new jobs in Türkiye: Report

By Burak Bir

ANKARA (AA) – Ending new investments in fossil fuels and shifting to renewable energy could create 300,000 new jobs in Türkiye by 2030, according to a newly published UN report on Tuesday.

The report, titled "Social and Employment Impacts of Climate Change and Green Economy Policies in Türkiye," pointed out huge economic benefits in shifting new investments from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources.

"Türkiye could increase its GDP by as much as $8 billion per year, create more than 300,000 new jobs by 2030, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 8% compared to the 2019 level - all by investing in renewable energy rather than continuing to rely on fossil fuels," said the joint report by the UN Development Program (UNDP) and the International Labor Organization (ILO).

It also noted that investing in wind and solar power would bring environmental benefits as well as strong economic gains, including growth, job creation and trade balance.

- 'Win-win scenario'

"Discussions of climate policies tend to focus on the costs, suggesting that there is a trade-off between protecting the planet and safeguarding the economy," said Louisa Vinton, the UNDP resident representative in Türkiye.

Calling green energy "a win-win scenario," Vinton said that is why there is room for the country's leaders to take more ambitious steps in this regard.

For his part, Numan Ozcan, director of ILO's Türkiye office, said climate activism will only work if a just transition can be ensured.

"In our view, the green economy could be the model that Türkiye needs to achieve its vision of high-income prosperity," he said, adding fast-tracking green and low-carbon policies could also address challenges that the Turkish economy is currently facing.

To conduct the study, an independent Norway-based research company, SINTEF, used a macroeconomic simulation called the "green jobs assessment model," which was developed for the ILO and has so far been applied in 15 countries, according to the report.

For the report, the simulation compared a "business as usual" scenario for Türkiye with a "green" scenario to discover the potential outcomes of transition to all new energy investments from fossil fuels into renewables like solar and wind power.