“Have To Get Real With The Situation and Raise Hope”

President of Environmental Energy Association and Coordinator of the Sustainable Civil Society Dialogue for Sustainable Development Project Tolga Şallı evaluated the concepts of sustainable development and cyclical economy which started to be discussed with the climate crisis, but came to the fore with the Covid-19 outbreak and said: “Have to get real with the situation and raise hope.”

Could you give us some information about Environmental Energy Association? What do you do as an association?

Environmental Energy Association was founded in Izmir in 2015. Our main areas of study are renewable energy legislation, environmental legislation, climate crisis and energy efficiency. We are aware that renewable energy is the most important power of our country both in energy independence and in the fight against the climate crisis of our world. As Environmental Energy Association our aim is to support the increase of electricity production from renewable energy sources and to raise awareness about energy efficiency and saving. We have carried out many activities in this direction. Recently, we are carrying out projects where the Ministry of Finance and Treasury is the contracting authority and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs European Union Presidency is the executive institution. Our first project was a project called “Sustainable Environment and Energy” within the scope of Local NGOs Grant Program. Izmir Provincial Directorate of Environment and Urbanization was our associate. In this project, we have provided trainings to civil society organizations working in the field of environment and energy. We organized surveys, we launched a website where every NGO can enter their information, share their activities and especially share their environmental impact assessment decisions. Our second project is titled “Sustainable Civil Society Dialogue for Sustainable Development” within the Civil Society Dialogue-5 program. In this project, Kyoto Club from Italy is our partner and Bologna Municipality and Karşıyaka Municipality are our affiliates. The aim of the project is to transfer the best practices on climate change, waste management, control of chemicals, horizontal legislation, air and water quality and nature protection which are the sub-sections of the European Union Acquis Chapter.

As the new world order has been formed with the Covid-19 epidemic, it has been discussed that sustainable development has an important place as well as cyclical economic business approaches in which waste is considered as a source instead of a disposable model. How do you define this process? How can you evaluate the concept of sustainable development in the new normalization process?

First of all, we have to question that who will play what role in the new post-epidemic order. I do not think much will change as long as the perspective of decision makers, the activities of local governments, the function of NGOs, the habits of the society and the individuals’ lifestyles continue as before the epidemic. However, the concept of sustainability will begin to make sense by making legislative changes in order to protect the future or increasing the operability of existing legislation, by applying new methods to evaluate waste of waste producing enterprises and by increasing the positive pressure of society and the individual. Actually, we can say that it has already begun.

The concept of sustainable development was also important before the epidemic, but now it is a little more obvious. Especially companies producing waste try to reduce their costs by including waste in the circular economy loop. The circular economy has important benefits such as cost savings, security of supply and creating new business opportunities. However, its contribution to the environment and human health is above all. Using the resource more efficiently and evaluating the waste generated at the end of the process as another value protects both the environment and human health. The linear economic theory applied so far started to evolve into circular economy.

When we analyze international literature and studies, there is an approach to double the sustainability for the future, and even if the pandemic is severe, that it is time to set the agenda for climate and sustainability as a whole. How do you evaluate the climate issue with the concept of sustainability in the context of its concrete effects on human life in the upcoming period?

Unfortunately, humanity cannot learn without experiencing things. Many countries in the world are experiencing the concrete effects of the climate crisis. Since 2008, an average of 21.5 million people has been forced to migrate every year due to disasters such as floods and drought. The vital activities of all living things are changing within the ecosystem. International organizations make decisions, but states always fail on practice. For example, there are countries that have withdrawn from Paris Climate Agreement by the idea that it would harm their economies. A petrostate claims that wind energy causes cancer, and a natural gas country claims that wind energy harms ants, and both of these statements were made live on TV.

It is necessary to get real and raise hope. The fight against the climate crisis will of course continue. Provisions regarding sustainable development will be enforced by our laws. The ‘one who pollutes, pays’ principle will be applied. Renewable energy investments will increase. However, when we evaluate it with a holistic approach, unless the top five countries that pollute the world the most, change, we will be talking about the same issues ten years from now. Because the problem is not the problem of several countries but of the world.

Finally, what are the contributions of increasing renewable energy investments to our country? What are the benefits especially in terms of employment and economy?

When we look at the last decade of our country, we can easily say that renewable energy investments have increased rapidly. Energy conversion is not something that can happen immediately. But the important point here is that, unfortunately, people still share unscientific claims about renewable energy in their social media accounts. Therefore, as an association, we are also working on disseminating the correct information.

According to the study of the International Renewable Energy Agency, the number of employees in this sector has exceeded 11 million in 2018. Renewable energy creates employment among many fields from equipment production to energy production. Renewable energy also avails in energy supply security and transmission. We can say that dispersed renewable energy investments contribute to the defense of the country. Our country imports raw materials every year by paying 30-35 billion dollars for electricity production. As renewable energy investments increase, the current account deficit decreases.