Emine Erdoğan, wife of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Chairperson of the United Nations (UN) Zero Waste High-Level Personalities Advisory Board, said, "Our primary concern should be to move away from the disposable culture shaped around disposable products. We must move to a sustainability culture shaped around long-lasting and durable products for the well-being of all of us and intergenerational justice." he said.
First Lady Erdoğan, who attended the "International Energy Agency (UEA) High Level Energy Transformation Dialogue Meeting" at the UN Headquarters, was welcomed by the Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Murat Kurum and UEA Executive Director Fatih Birol upon her arrival.
In her speech here, First Lady Erdoğan expressed her happiness in attending the meeting and thanked Birol and his team for their invitation.
Expressing his gratitude to the Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change and COP-31 President Murat Kurum for his leadership, Erdoğan expressed his gratitude to Chris Bowen, who chaired the COP-31 negotiations, Selwin Hart on behalf of the United Nations, and all stakeholders.
Expressing her deep gratitude to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for his support to the climate issue since day one, First Lady Erdoğan said:
"Every summer in recent years, we have come across similar headlines in newspapers when it comes to climate. To give a few examples, these headlines that we once considered extraordinary, such as 'Temperatures broke records', 'One of the most severe heat waves in history is taking place', 'The hottest summer of the last 10 years', have now become almost ordinary. Because every year a new threshold is crossed in temperature values, followed by forest fires, floods and devastating storms. These are the energy generated by ever-growing consumption. "It is a result of human needs and increasing greenhouse gases. On the other hand, it is the state language of nature."
"WE NEED TO PUT OUR HAT ON AND THINK"
First Lady Erdoğan stated that she clearly stated that she could not handle the stress on nature and said, "For this reason, we should not limit the issue of energy conversion to the question of 'How can we produce more clean energy?'. We should first ask 'Why do we have to produce more energy?' We should address it with the question: "We need to hang our hats and think about how we use our resources and the consequences of our unlimited consumption habits." he said.
Pointing out that the permanent solution will be by eliminating the root causes that create them rather than managing the symptoms, and that today the historical footprints of humanity consist of waste, Erdogan continued as follows:
"We extract, process and consume resources. We spend energy in all these processes, then turn what we produce into waste and leave it out of the system. However, everything we call waste contains energy, natural resources and human labor. That is why we choose a very important theme every year to draw attention to this multi-dimensional waste in the celebrations we hold at the United Nations Headquarters within the scope of International Zero Waste Day. For example, this year we brought food waste to the global agenda. Because every year globally, 5.8 trillion plates of food equivalent to food is not consumed." "It is wasted and we rarely associate food waste with energy waste. Therefore, we miss the fact that we waste the energy spent on the production, packaging, preparation, preservation and distribution of food. We only deal with the issue from its technical perspective and ignore how the earthquakes in our spiritual and cultural world create a huge consumption tsunami."
“WE CAN DESIGN PRODUCTION PROCESSES IN A WAY THAT DOES NOT CREATE WASTE”
Stating that research shows that 85 percent of people tend to buy more than they need, First Lady Erdoğan stated that this means that people's world of meaning is narrowing and their spiritual land is becoming deserted.
First Lady Erdoğan continued her speech as follows:
"Therefore, our primary concern should be to move away from the disposable culture shaped around disposable products. For the well-being of all of us and intergenerational justice, we must move to a culture of sustainability that will be shaped around long-lasting and durable products. Well, we can design production processes in a way that does not create waste. We can turn waste into raw material again and bring it into the system. At this point, nature itself is a great school for circularity. Because nothing in nature turns into waste. It is based on the constant circulation of water, soil and air." In this magnificent system, the output of one living being turns into the input of another living creature. So, let us learn the necessary lessons from this school, because we can only solve the problems we have accumulated in our linear production and consumption system by learning to think circularly.
Emphasizing that the Zero Waste Project, which they started in Türkiye in 2017 and has turned into a global movement today, is an important road map for energy and resource security, Erdoğan pointed out that the studies of the International Energy Agency clearly reveal the strong bond between zero waste and energy transformation.
“WE AIM TO INCREASE OUR INSTALLED POWER TO 120 THOUSAND MEGAWAT”
First Lady Erdoğan stated that the analysis shows that if circular waste management is strengthened, significant emission reductions can be achieved in the energy sector and said:
"As Turkey, we are preparing for this transformation by accelerating our zero waste practices and clean energy investments. Today, we rank 5th in Europe and 11th in the world in terms of renewable energy installed capacity. We aim to increase our solar and wind installed power to 120 thousand megawatts by 2035. We build this target on the principle of producing clean energy with the least waste. For this reason, the zero waste approach is more within the scope of the action agenda of COP-31, which we will host in November. "We want to move forward because zero waste is the most powerful way to open the door to a real transformation in every field, from production to consumption."
Reminding that the 2nd International Zero Waste Forum, which they organized in Istanbul last June, was an important step in this direction, Erdoğan said that the forum, which brought together 120 ministers and more than 7 thousand participants from 183 countries, once again showed that a waste-free world is an achievable goal with a common will.
A ROUND TABLE MEETING WAS HELD
Emphasizing the importance of translating commitments on this issue into reality, with the right policies and strong collaborations, rather than leaving them on paper, Erdoğan wished that this important dialogue would lead to a fair and livable world for everyone.
