Turkey rejects Kyoto

‘We reject Kyoto because it’s against our interests’

Energy and Natural Resources Minister Hilmi Güler has announced that Turkey has declined to sign the Kyoto Protocol for the sake of the country's national interests, in particular because certain parts of the protocol would hinder Turkey's infrastructure development.

The Turkish Daily News reports that Turkey's State Planning Agency says, "Kyoto will be disaster for Turkey":

The economic costs of signing the Kyoto Protocol in its current form could result in as much as a 37 percent drop in Turkey's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which was $148 billion in 2006, reported a paper prepared by the state agency responsible for charting the progress and possible repercussions of projects.

According to the report presented by the State Planning Organization (DPT) to the Parliament commission investigating the matter, by signing the protocol Turkey would be willingly accepting responsibility to undertake certain measures and the repercussions of these measures could cost between 10 to 37 percent of the GDP.

Sounds a lot like what Canada's Environment Minister said last week on the economic costs of Kyoto.

Elsewhere, Danish CO2 emissions in 2006 were up 16% from 2005, largely due to a 6.2% increase in energy production and Germany plans to build 26 new coal plants.