A record $US1.6 billion ($A2.3 billion) financing deal has been clinched at the COP31 conference, with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) agreeing to support host Turkey with its plans to hit climate goals.
Turkey, a founding member of AIIB, will need an estimated $US68 billion ($A99 billion) in additional climate investment by 2030, around half from private sources, the Beijing-based development bank said in a statement on Thursday.
The agreement will support the implementation of Turkey’s Climate Law and its plan to cut planet-warming emissions, which includes an interim target for 2035 and aims to achieve net zero by 2053.
The money will help scale sustainable finance, accelerate decarbonisation and boost climate resilience efforts across the country of 86 million people as global warming drives drought, floods and wildfires.
The nation faces increasing pressure from water scarcity, drought, extreme heat, wildfires and urban flooding.
“This financing represents AIIB’s largest climate policy-based financing package to date and we look forward to contributing to Turkey delivering on its climate ambitions,” AIIB chief investment officer Konstantin Limitovskiy said.
Part of the support will go towards helping the country scale its nascent emissions trading scheme, under which companies in high-emitting sectors will receive and trade allowances.
A domestic carbon price could help exporters to the European Union in sectors such as steel and cement, as carbon costs paid in Turkey can be taken into account under the bloc’s carbon border levy on emissions embedded in certain imported products.
Program targets include getting at least 180 facilities reporting baseline emissions under the scheme by April 2027 and securing production licences for 1800 megawatts of wind and solar capacity by early 2027.
The plan also aims to help 225,000 farmers in water-stressed basins switch to less water-intensive crops by 2028 and have 500 sq km designated as carbon sinks — where land absorbs climate-damaging carbon — by 2028.
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