Climate action and sustainable development

16.Programme strategy - Actions and activities

The UÇES indicates that the EU Directives requiring the highest amount of investments are those relating to water management and also the waste management sector.

According to the most recent data, basic environmental statistics related to water and waste fields are as follows:

• 
  98% of municipal population is served by a water supply system. Drinking water treatment plants are provided in 411 municipalities, serving 56% of Turkey’s total municipal population¹².
  
• 
  In 2012, 92% of the municipal population was connected to a sewerage system and 68% was served by wastewater treatment facilities. In total, wastewater treatment plants are currently in operation, with different treatment levels, in 536 municipalities¹³.
  
• 
  In 2012, 99% of the municipal population benefits from waste management services through 80 landfills, and 6 composting plants. There are 3 industrial waste incineration, 32 co-incineration plants, 6 industrial waste landfills (Class 1) and 282 recovery facilities¹⁴.
  
• 
  Economic growth has been highly dependent on - mainly imported - energy and the consumption of natural resources, leading to growing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and environmental degradation. High energy dependence means that Turkey's economy would become more vulnerable to oil price shocks, and would have to undertake more costly investments by 2020 and beyond. It is also creating unnecessary inflationary risks undermining Turkey's prospects for growth and prosperity. The National Climate Change Action Plan identifies greenhouse gas emission reduction activities, including those at the urban/local level.
  

Nowadays, threats and dangers are represented also by CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear) substances that can be deliberately and accidently released to the environment. Nowadays threats and dangers that CBRN materials pose are a challenging issue to be handled by all the countries. Moreover, developing industrial activities increase the risk of accidental release of those substances.

The EOP (2007-2013) mainly targeted the strengthening of institutional and financial capacity of local authorities, with particular focus on environmental services, such as improving drinking water and wastewater systems and developing effective waste management and infrastructure. For the EOP 2007-2013, 39 environmental infrastructure projects (32 water management, 7 waste management) have been prepared and submitted to the European Commission for a financing decision. Of these, 18 were under implementation as of February 2014 (17 water, 1 waste). Up to end of the EOP implementation period, 30 projects are planned to be completed. Taking into consideration the perceived needs, the main priority of the environmental infrastructure strategy will be to increase the capacities of local authorities, to strengthen the national framework and to fund the investment requirements in the above-mentioned fields at a national level.

In the previous IPA period as explained above, thematic concentration of the Environment OP was mainly on water and waste. In the new IPA II period, in addition to these two priorities, there will be a special focus on climate action, EU Acquis transposition and capacity building activities. Moreover, considering the dynamic nature of EU Environment and Climate Acquis which requires substantive improvements in legislation and capacity, ad-hoc activities addressing these needs directly related to Environment and Climate Change Chapter will be supported. These will all contribute to the achievement of the targets established in the strategic documents in relation to environment.

In this context, special attention will be given to mechanisms maximising the complementarity of EU funding sources in favour of instruments such as a TA facility to support Ilbank in capacity building, upstream work and preparation of water and waste projects, triggering EIB financing under the programmes Ilbank Environmental Loan I and possible relevant subsequent facilities as implemented by EIB over the planning period. The TA budget for the current and subsequent EIB facilities is estimated at EUR 10 million. Additionally, specific priority will be attached to facilities to support the development of coherent mechanisms for sustainable city planning and management to be implemented by Ilbank and IFIs, for municipalities in order to develop economically sound schemes.

The JASPERS initiative can be utilised in the IPA II period for supporting the investment activities after consensus has been reached and the idea is matured. JASPERS’ experts may assist the MoEU from the early phases of the project cycle, to preparation phase, to project assessment for decision-making, submission and post-submission, including horizontal activity/capacity building if it is so decided. The budget of JASPERS’ assistance is estimated at up to EUR 2 million.