Green Transformation Support Program

Öykü Su Sabancı co-authored this article.

The Ministry of Industry and Technology ("the Ministry") has published the "Communiqué on the Implementation Procedures and Principles of the Green Transformation Support Program" (“Communiqué “) in the Official Gazette dated July 26, 2024, and numbered 32613. The purpose of this Communiqué is to set out the implementation procedures and principles of the Green Transformation Support Program to be implemented in Turkey to support investments that are compatible with the circular economy approach, conserve natural resources, contribute to climate and sustainability goals, and achieve resource-efficient and low-carbon production. In this way, the procedures, and principles to be applied in the application, evaluation, monitoring, renewal, and closure processes of the Green Support Program implemented in Turkey have been established.

Following the Communiqué, the terms of "Green Transformation Center", "Green Transformation Team" and "Green Transformation Leader" have entered the literature. “Green Transformation Center" refers to the title given by the Directorate General during the implementation period of the roadmap to the entities that will implement the projects whose roadmap report is deemed appropriate and for which a support decision is made within the framework of the program; "Green Transformation Team" refers to the team of at least three (3) persons formed by the investor to participate in the preparation, implementation and monitoring processes of the roadmap report; and "Green Transformation Leader" refers to the real person authorized by the investor who is responsible for the implementation of the roadmap report; and "Green Transformation Leader" refers to the real person authorized by the Investor, who is an employee, partner or board member of the Investor and who will coordinate the processes of the green transformation team and ensure the establishment of a green transformation culture within the Facility.

Article 4 of the Communiqué stipulates that the investor shall prepare a roadmap report containing the green transformation practices to be carried out on a facility basis within the framework of the green transformation strategy. The template to be used in the preparation of the roadmap report shall be announced by the Ministry. The investor shall have the right to submit one (1) or more projects to be implemented during the implementation process of the roadmap report. However, at least one project proposal shall be included in the roadmap report.

In accordance with Article 5 of the Communiqué entitled "Project Objective", it has been determined that the investor may set one (1) or more project objectives in the Road Map Report, which include the project’s concrete and measurable improvements in quantitative or proportional terms for which the investor has applied, and it has been determined that the project objective should be determined for each unit of production, taking into account certain performance indicators. The project objective should provide for the improvement and/or development of at least one of the following indicators. These performance indicators are

a) Energy consumption

b) Amount of greenhouse gas emissions

c) Amount of air pollutant emissions

d) Carbon Footprint

e) Water footprint

f) Consumption of raw materials

g) Amount of waste

h) Water consumption

i) Wastewater Amount

j) Wastewater pollution load

k) Amount of input recycled from facility waste

According to Article 7 of the Communiqué, only capital companies established in Turkey and operating in the manufacturing sector are eligible to apply for the Program. The Road Map Report, which must be submitted as part of the application, must be uploaded by the investor to the program portal no later than forty (40) working days after the completion of the project application to be entered into the Program Portal. This issue has a great importance since the Communiqué stipulates that applications for which the Road Map Report is not uploaded to the portal will be excluded from evaluation.

Among the projects to be supported; the roadmap report must be deemed appropriate, serve the program objectives, include measurable project objectives, include green transformation practices, and meet the conditions of the call. The evaluation criteria are:

a) The roadmap report includes the investor's medium- and long-term planning for the green transformation process in a consistent and comprehensive manner,

b) The project objectives and green transformation practices are consistent with the roadmap report,

c) The roadmap report and the green transformation practices to be implemented under the project are prepared considering national and international legislation and best practices in this field,

d) The project includes sector priorities, examples of innovative practices and newly developed technologies,

e) Project objectives are clear, measurable, comparable, and realistic, taking into account the potential for improvement that can be achieved in the field,

f) Alignment of the project objectives with the green transformation practices to be implemented and the investment elements requested to be included in the scope of support,

g) Green transformation practices implemented to achieve the project objectives will not negatively impact other performance indicators,

h) The accuracy and appropriateness of the method of measuring and reporting the performance indicators specified by the investor.

Projects that do not meet the above criteria and are rejected may not reapply to the program with the same content within one (1) year. The scope of support to be provided in accordance with the Communiqué has also been determined. The projects to be supported may include the purchase of land, building construction expenditures, machinery, equipment, technology, software, and hardware to be purchased, measurement, verification, certification, survey, testing and consultancy services to be provided for the realization of the project objectives, provided that the projects to be supported are limited to production facilities and auxiliary units operating in the manufacturing industry. However, the Communiqué states that support will not be provided for completely new investments, except for additional new investments to be made in the existing facility under the program and for R&D or investment activities for the development or production of technologies and products to be used in the green transformation process. Article 10 of the Communiqué, which defines the scope of support, also states that the activities for the establishment of a renewable energy generation facility within the scope of the project may be supported with a separate Investment Incentive Certificate to benefit from the regional support. An Investment Incentive Certificate will be issued by the General Directorate for the Implementation of Incentives and Foreign Capital ("TUYSGM") for the projects decided to be supported, without the need for a separate evaluation.

The Communiqué also regulates the procedures for monitoring, revising, and closing of projects. In accordance with these rules, the progress of the project is monitored by the General Directorate of Strategic Research and Productivity, and requests for project revision are made through the program portal. For the completion of the project, within thirty (30) working days from the end of the investment period provided for in the project, the final status measurement is carried out by the evaluator designated by the investor from the list of evaluators. The results of the final status measurement are uploaded to the Program Portal by the evaluator and approved by the investor. For the facilities that have successfully completed the Road Map Report, it has been determined that the investor will be given one (1) year to submit a new Road Map Report, and the Green Transformation Center title of the facilities that do not submit a new Road Map Report will be canceled at the end of this period.