Initiated by Sabancı University in January 2010 with the support of Akbank, the first year results of the Carbon Disclosure Project Turkey were announced at a meeting held in the Sakıp Sabancı Museum. 

Attending the meeting were Assistant General Manager of Akbank, Hakan Binbaşgil; Sabancı University Faculty of Management Dean, Professor Nakiye Boyacıgiller; CDP Reporting Director, Daniel Turner; European Commission Climate Action representative Yrjö Makela, and Ernst&Young Turkey partner Metin Canoğulları, who commented on the CDP as the only global reporting project for action to prevent climate change.  Sabancı University Corporate Governance Forum Director and CDP Turkey Director Dr. Melsa Ararat gave information on the findings of the CDP 2010 Turkey-50 Report.

Participation in the project was 20% for the first year, and participants included 10 companies listed on the Istanbul Stock Exchange-50 (İMKB-50) list, and one company that undertook voluntary reporting despite not being quoted on the İMKB-50.  Although 2010 was the first year of the CDP in Turkey, participation was higher compared to other developing countries.  Another success of the project was the commitment of some İMKB-50 companies which did not take part in the project this year to participate in the CDP in 2011.

Commenting on the findings of the CDP 2010 Turkey-50 Report, Sabancı University Corporate Governance Forum Director and CDP Turkey Director Dr. Melsa Ararat said, “The Carbon Disclosure Project pioneered emissions transparency in publicly traded companies in Turkey.  Companies that made use of an opportunity to disclose their carbon emissions and climate change policies on the right platform gained competitive advantage over others and are more likely to be included in the watch lists of international corporate investors.  With an increase of climate change awareness and the proliferation of best practices in the years to come, companies in Turkey will develop more rapidly compared to companies in other developing countries.”

At the end of the meeting, Sabancı University President Professor A. Nihat Berker presented an award to the Secretary-General of the Banks Association of Turkey for the contributions of Turkish banks to the project.

Please click here to read the report.