CDP Turkey, carried out by Sabancı University and sponsored by Akbank, announced its 2011 results to the public with the participation of Fatih Birol, Chief Economist in International Energy Agency.

CDP Turkey has been conducted by Sabancı University Corporate Governance Forum of Turkey since 2010. As a part of the world’s most common and prestigious environmental initiative, CDP Turkey announced its second year results. Companies listed on ISE National-100 Index were invited to share their greenhouse gas emissions and risk management strategies about climate change with investors. As a result of this study, CDP 2011 Turkey-100 Report was published by Sabancı University with the contribution of Ernst & Young, indicating the climate change trends in Turkey and the analysis of the company reports.

In the opening speech, Hakan Binbaşgil, the Deputy General Manager of Akbank, expressed his gratification of Akbank supporting CDP Turkey for the past 2 years. The meeting continued with the conference of Fatih Birol, Chief Economist in International Energy Agency and Honorary Adviser of Istanbul International Center for Energy and Climate. During his speech, Birol said, “Unless the necessary precautions are taken, the world will face a temperature rise of 6 degrees Celsius. There is still time to reach the critical temperature rise of 2 degrees Celsius; however, each year makes it more difficult to take the necessary precautions and each year the costs pile up.”

After the video screening about the opinions regarding CDP and climate change, Melsa Ararat, Sabancı University Faculty Member and CDP Turkey Director, indicated, “CDP Turkey will continue its operations with an increasing awareness of social responsibility, while taking these operations to the next level by carrying on its support to public projects.”

The participants in the panel “Climate Change and Emerging Markets” were Sue Howells, Head of Global Operations of CDP; Alexis Krajeski, Associate Director of Governance & Sustainable Investment at F&C Investments; Giorgio Capurri, Corporate Sustainability and CSR Manager of UniCredit; and Melsa Ararat, Sabancı University Faculty Member and CDP Turkey Director. The panelists emphasized that the damages climate change causes on earth has reached the point of no return and that the importance of companies which can provide financial resources in the climate change context is increasing.

The meeting ended with the Carbon Disclosure Leaders Award Ceremony that was given for the first time in this meeting. The companies which disclosed their greenhouse gas emissions and risk management strategies about climate change in the most transparent way to the public through CDP were chosen for the awards. According to Ernst & Young’s methodology with the usage of CDP data, Türk Telekom and Zorlu Energy Group were awarded as Carbon Disclosure Leaders 2011 by holding the highest scores. Türk Telekom received its award from Professor Nihat Berker, Rector of Sabancı University, and Zorlu Energy Group received its award from Mustafa Çamlıca, Ernst & Young Turkey Country Leader.

Please click here to read the report.