Although Turkey agreed in the objective of the Convention, She is not a party to the Convention and the Kyoto Protocol signed at 3rd Conference of the Parties in 1997. Because Turkey is a member of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and there are obligations to OECD countries under the UNFCCC such as; to ensure the stabilisation of emission levels at the level of 1990 and to provide technological and financial assistance to the developing countries.
Although Turkey is not a party to the Convention, studies on the estimation of greenhouse gases which is an obligation to the Parties of the Convention, have been started.
The Revised 1996 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories are intented to assist all Parties by the Secretary of IPCC in order to use comparable methodologies for inventories of GHG emissions and removals.
State Institute of Statistics have used the IPCC Guidelines for the estimation of GHG emissions of Turkey. In IPCC Guidelines, carbondioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrousoxide (N2O) are defined as direct GHGs whereas nitrogenoxides (NOx), carbonmonoxide (CO), non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs), hidrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) and sulphurdioxide (SO2) are defined as indirect GHGs.
Accoring to the GHG emissions of Turkey estimated by Environmental Statistics Division of SIS by using the IPCC Guidelines, direct GHG emission was calculated as 200.7 million tonnes as CO2 equivalent in 1990 and 271.2 million tonnes in 1997. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change make the parties to decrease their emission levels to the level of 1990 values by the year 2000. In Turkey, direct greenhouse gas emissions increased 35.10 percent in 1997 compared to the emissions of 1990. Furthermore direct greenhouse gas emissions per capita were calculated as 3.55 in 1990 and as 4.34 in 1997. These values are much lower than that of World and OECD countries (see Table 1 and Table 2).
CO2 emissions, the main component of the direct GHGs, was increased to 35.50% in 1997 compared to the emission in 1990 (see Table 1).
CO2 emission per capita was increased to the value of 3.86 in 1997 while it was 3.15 in 1990 (see Table 1).
According to the calculations of GHG emissions from fuel combustion, which is the most important contributor, there is 34.28% increase in 1997 compared to the value of 1990 (see Table 1).
According to CO2 emission per capita from fuel combustion while the average of world was 4.08 in 1990, this figure was decrased to 3.92 in 1995; while the average of OECD countries was decrased from 11.10 in 1990 to 11.08 in 1995; and the average of USA, the main contributor of the emissions, was decrased from 19.64 in 1995 to 19.88 in 1995. Although that figure of Turkey was 3.15 in 1990 and increased to 3.49 in 1995, it is much lower than the figures of World, OECD countries and USA (see Table 2).
Total direct GHG emissions have been calculated by converting CH4 and N2O figures to CO2 equvilant (Global Warming Potential) for the period of 100 years. According to the calculations, among total direct GHG emissions, 88.67% was CO2, 10.77% was CH4 and 0.56% was N2O in 1990 and 88.93% was CO2, 9.42% was CH4 and 1.65% was N2O in 1997 (see Table 4).
When direct GHG emissions by sectors in 1990 and 1997 was examined, it is observed that, among 200.7 million tonnes of direct GHG emissions, 73.10% was generated from fuel combustion, 17.65% from industrial processes, 9.03% from agricultural activities and 0.22% from other sectors in 1990, in similar manner, among 271.2 million tonnes direct GHG emissions, 72.10% was generated from fuel combustion, 19.52% from industrial processes, 6.10% from agricultural activities and 2.28% from other sectors in 1997 (see Table 5 and Table 6).
CO2 emissions from fuel combustion estimated as 142.7 million tonnes and the contribution of that figure to the direct GHG emissions calculated as 97.3% in 1990, similarly, it was 191.7 million tonnes 98.0% respectively in 1997 (see Table 7 and Table 8).
According to the CO2 emissions from fuel combustion by sectors in 1997, it was determined that, 37% was generated from energy and transformation sector, 26% from industrial sector, 18% from transportation sector and 19% was generated from other sectors (see Table 16).
According to the comparison of the CO2 emissions from industrial processes in 1990 and 1997, while emission value was 35.2 million tonnes with the percentage of 99.5% in the direct GHG emissions it was estimated as 49.5 million tonnes and the contribution of this figure to the direct GHG decreased to the 93.5% in 1997 (see Tablo 9 and Table 10).
Among CH4 emissions calculated as 21.62 million tonnes as CO2 equivalent, it was determined that 78.87% was originated from livestock (enteric fermentation and manure management), 14.54% from fuel combustion, 2.02% from coal mining, 2.22% from rice cultivation, 2.10% from burning of agricultural residuals, 0.23% from industrial processes, 0.01% from refining of petroleum and 0.001% from transportation of crude oil in the year of 1990. In 1997, contribution of emission sources to the CH4 emissions of 25.55 million tonnes as CO2 equivalent are as follows; livestock with 60.26%, landfills with 18.95%, fuel combustion with 11.32%, coal mining with 5.26%, rice cultivation with 2.26%, burning of agricultural residuals with 1.74%, industrial processes with 0.19%, refining of petroleum 0.01% and transportation of crude oil with 0.001% (see Table 17).
The most important source of CH4 emissions is livestock which can be easily seen from the explanation given above.
Among N2O emission calculated as 4.48 million tonnes as CO2 equivalent, it was determined that 75.38% was originated from industrial processes, 21.64% from fuel combustion and 2.97% from burning of agricultural residuals in the year of 1997 (see Table 18 and Table 19).
Since NOx, CO, NMVOC and SO2 gases are defined as indirect gases and there is no conversion factor to find the CO2 equivalent of those gases, emissions of each gas was evaluated by using their original values.
NOx emissions are generated from fuel combustion, industrial processes and burning of agricultural residuals. While NOx emission was 680.41 thousand tonnes in 1990, this figure was increased to 871.52 thousand tonnes in 1997. Among NOx emissions in 1997, 96.64% was generated from fuel combustion, 2.20% from industrial processes and 1.16% from burning of agricultural residuals. (see Table 20 and Table 21).
CO emissions are also generated from fuel combustion, industrial processes and burning of agricultural residuals. While CO emission was 3,773 thousand tonnes in 1990, this figure was increased to 4,198 thousand tonnes in 1997. Among CO emissions in 1997, 87.82% was generated from fuel combustion, %1.56 from industrial processes and %10.61 from agricultural activities (see Table 22 and Table23).
NMVOC emissions are also generated from fuel combustion and industrial processes. While NMVOC emission was 524 thousand tonnes in 1990, this figure was increased to 632 thousand tonnes in 1997. Among NMVOC emissions in 1997, 91.05% was generated from fuel combustion and 8.95% from industrial processes (see Table 24 and Table25).
SO2 emissions from fuel combustion in thermal power plants were calculated by the General Directorate of Turkish Electricity Generation Transmission Cooperation and SO2 emissions from industrial processes were calculated by using the IPCC guidelines. SO2 emissions inreased from 813 thousand tonnes in 1990 to 1.038 thousand tonnes in 1997. SO2 emissions, originated from thermal power plants was 90.80% and industrial processes 9.20% of the total in 1997 (see Table 26 and Table 27).
Uptake of CO2 emissions was calculated by the Ministry of Forestry. While amount of CO2 emission uptake was 43.8 million tonnes in 1990 and this figure increased to 49.7 million tonnes in 1997 (see Table 28).