Türkiye’s Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) specifically highlights the country’s 2018 National Energy Efficiency Action Plan and refers to cooling. Türkiye has aligned its energy efficiency regulations, standards, and labels for the building, appliances, and equipment sectors with those of the EU energy efficiency framework. Türkiye is currently drafting a Climate Law to regulate climate change under a single piece of legislation that emphasises the promotion of energy efficiency across all sectors. Türkiye has made progress reducing ODS after introducing a by-law to support the phase-out that has contributed to diminishing consumption of ODS from 13,200 to 200 ODP tonnes from 2009 to 2019 respectively. However, because of the ODS phase-out, the consumption of HFCs has increased significantly.

Türkiye has a strong local refrigeration and air conditioning manufacturing industry. Turkish manufacturers export predominantly to MENA countries and the European Union. Alternatives to refrigerants with low global warming potential are already used by Turkish manufacturers, mainly for units exported to the EU where the demand for these has been triggered by the EU F-gas regulation. Given that Türkiye is currently finalising a comparable F-gas regulation, the domestic market is well-suited for a market shift to more sustainable cooling technologies. The market for cooling technologies is also expected to grow in Türkiye as the air conditioning penetration rate (the share of households, offices, etc. with at least one AC appliance installed) is expected to increase by around 5% in the residential and the commercial sectors by 2023. One of the key challenges for the sector is the parallel commitments of phasing out HCFCs while also phasing down HFCs. This presents a challenge and an opportunity to transition the sector to more natural refrigerants.

Financing programmes provided through local and international financial institutions in Türkiye under the umbrella of energy efficiency credit lines may be useful frameworks for the cooling sector. In recent years some financial programmes have offered specific financing for buildings and heating and cooling systems. Financial institutions are familiar with lending for energy efficiency and appropriate appraisal methods but need a business case and value proposition for sustainable cooling projects to begin offering these products.