Trade Minister Ömer Bolat expressed on Tuesday the aim to guide exporting companies in the process of green and digital transformation through a specially designed program.
The program envisages covering half of the consultancy service expenses up to TL 10 million (nearly $305,000) provided to the companies for a period of five years.
Speaking at the introduction meeting for the “Green Deal Adaptation Project,” Bolat recalled that the Turkish economy grew by 5.7% in the first quarter of this year, with 1.6 percentage points of this growth coming from foreign trade.
The minister emphasized that last year’s exports reached $255.4 billion, the highest level in the history of the republic, and stated that mutual trade between Türkiye and the European Union increased to $211 billion in 2023 within the framework of the customs union arrangement.
Noting that approximately $104 billion of this figure stemmed from Turkish exports and $107 billion from imports, Bolat said, “Last year, 41% of the total foreign trade composition on the export side was made up of exports to the EU, and 30% of the import side was made up of imports from the EU.”
“From 2002 to May of this year, $267.1 billion of foreign direct investment came to Türkiye, with $110.2 billion of this coming from EU sources,” he added.
Bolat stated that the Green Deal Action Plan was created to advance the economic integration provided by the customs union and to establish a road map for adapting to the possible effects of climate change policies on the international trade order.
Furthermore, he said that the sectors determined under the EU’s “Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism” (CBAM) are iron-steel, cement, aluminum, fertilizer, electricity and hydrogen and textile and clothing and that these sectors are the most quickly and heavily affected by the green transformation process.
Emphasizing the need for these sectors to adapt quickly to the carbon border regulation, Bolat said, “The share of our exports from these six sectors in our total exports to the EU is 49%, that is, about half.”
Drawing attention to the importance of providing comprehensive support for raising awareness and creating a road map for the process, Bolat stated that legislative changes, such as the eco-design rules that will come into effect within the framework of the transition to a circular economy, will directly affect exports to the EU.
Bolat mentioned that regulating a digital product passport will become a rule for entry into the EU market and that such practices will make company digital transformation mandatory.
Explaining that they support exporters with the “Responsible Program” for the sustainability of exports as the ministry, Bolat added: “With the ‘Green Deal Adaptation Project’ to be implemented under the program, our goal is to guide our exporting companies in the green and digital transformation process.”
“We aim to ensure their compliance with green and digital transformation at the corporate level and make the sustainability of exports possible in this context. Under the Responsible Program, our ministry will support consultancy service expenses incurred by our companies up to a total of TL 10 million at a rate of 50% for five years.”
He also provided information that there is a preliminary assessment on the portal accessible at “responsible.gov.tr,” allowing companies that do not enter the consultancy process to analyze their current situation.
Stages of the program
The minister also explained that the program has three main stages, detailing each stage.
“In phase 1, which constitutes the first stage, the company’s current situation analysis will be carried out within the framework of sustainability criteria and parameters determined on a sectoral basis,” he noted.
“In the second stage, technical and financial feasibility consultancy for implementing the sustainability road map on a project basis will be supported. Projects prepared with technical and financial feasibility will be directed from the Responsible portal to the IGE Guarantee Portal,” he added.
“In this way, our companies will be able to convey their financing demands for the project to be implemented through the portal to the banking sector, and they will be able to evaluate the credit offers coming from banks in a competitive environment through the portal.”
Bolat stated that in the final stage, the monitoring and verification consultancy of the implemented projects will be supported, and the progress of exports and exporters will be tracked.
Explaining that they will also support the company’s IT and sustainability consultancy expenses of the companies for creating corporate infrastructure, the minister said that within this scope, cooperation will be established with the Public Oversight, Accounting and Auditing Standards Authority (POA) affiliated with the Ministry of Treasury and Finance.
Treasury and Finance Deputy Minister Abdullah Erdem Cantimur, for his part, stated that the POA has been continuing its work in the fields of financial reporting and independent auditing since the year it was established.
Cantimur noted that the public oversight, quality, assurance, inspection and sanction systems established by the authority are equivalent to those of EU member states and have been accepted by the European Commission.
