What is the project about?

The  project is aimed at assisting the Government of Türkiye to increase the use of wood in Türkiye’s Building industry by using new, improved wood-technologies, such as CLT (Cross-Laminated Timber) using a three phased approach to promote scaling up and replication of pilots supported by the project which includes the successful implementation during the project of at least 6 pilot wooden building projects for a total of 8 400m2 floor space leading to an additional 0.58 million m2 of new construction in Türkiye coming from wood by 2029 or by 6 years from the project start date. The project focus on removing barriers to promoting improved wood-based technologies by reducing legislative and regulatory barriers (Component 1), removing cost and financial barriers through demonstration projects (Component 2) and removing barriers on unsustainable demand and supply chain by awareness raising and capacity building activities (Component 3). The focus of the project will be on supporting the implementation of CLT and other wooden construction materials in the buildings sector and it is expected that the awareness raising and capacity building activities will also lead to an increase of other types of wood use in the building sector, such as structural timber (ST) or Glued Laminated Timber (GLT). The project is positively contributing to achieving to Türkiye’s INDC, which gave special importance to increasing energy efficiency in buildings sector through measures such as reducing the consumption of primary energy sources of new buildings through improved building materials and is also supporting the building sector to be a low carbon economy in line with European regulations on energy in the building sector. During the course of the project, an additional 0.58 million m² of construction in Türkiye comes from wood by 2029. A total of 165,715 tons of direct GHG emissions will be reduced, the reduction of indirect GHG emissions is amounting to 2.4 million tons. The project will positively contribute to SDGs 8, 9, 11, 13 and 15.

What is the Situation?

The Government of Türkiye places high priority for improving energy efficiency as a means of both promoting economic development, enhancing energy security, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Türkiye has signed and ratified the UNFCCC (in 2004) and is committed towards participating in international efforts aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, which includes participation in international efforts to negotiate and agree a successor agreement to the Kyoto Protocol. Under the Paris Agreement the Government of Türkiye has set itself an Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) target of reducing emissions up to 21 percent compared to business as usual by 2030. Türkiye has ratified the Paris Agreement in October and set a target of net zero emissions in 2053. Türkiye’s total GHG emissions, excluding the LULUCF sector, were estimated to be 526.3 Mt of CO2 equivalent (CO2 eq.) in 2017. This represents an increase of 27.8 Mt, or 5.6%, in emissions compared to 2016, and an increase of 140.1% above 1990 levels according to Turkish Statistical Institute (TUİK) data. The government recognizes this and places energy efficiency as a one of the key components in the policy. The priority of Türkiye in the forthcoming period will be reducing dependency on the imports by realizing its domestic and renewable energy potential along with securing the energy supply security, as it has been so far. Within the framework of ensuring source diversification, Türkiye aims at bringing domestic and renewable sources in the economy to the maximum extent in an environment-friendly manner. In Türkiye, the building sector is the second largest (after the industry sector) in terms of both energy consumption (representing 36% of the total final energy consumption) and greenhouse gas emissions, which are estimated at approximately 32% of all total national energy related GHG emissions. It is estimated that through energy efficiency measures overall greenhouse gas emissions in the building sector could be reduced by up to 30% meaning that reductions of 38.4 million tonnes of CO2e per annum are theoretically possible.

The construction sector is the key driver of economy in Türkiye having impact on the development of the country. The increase in the population, urbanization, necessity for the infrastructure, need for renovation and urban transformation stimulates accretion in the sector and the sector is developing continuously. The main players in the sector are contractors, construction material manufacturers, engineers, the technical staff and craftsmen. The related sub-sectors are domestic contracting services, overseas contracting services, technical consultancy services, real estate, finance, construction and construction machinery and building materials industry. The construction sector contributes to the economy by providing new business areas and employment. The employment in the sector was 1,768,000 in 2013 and increased to 1,992,000 at the end of 2018, which represents a share in total employment in Türkiye of 6.9%. 2018 the construction sector had an average growth rate in turnover of 4.48 percent per annum in the period 2014-2017. Due to the developments in the economy and financial shocks in 2018, the growth rate in 2018 was only 2.6 percent and the housing sector was adversely affected through declining sales. In the same time period the national annual income of Türkiye decreased from 851 billion dollars to 784 billion dollars. In 2018, the share of the construction sector in Türkiye’s GDP was 7.2% (source: http://www.imsad.org/Yayinlar/sektorel-raporlar/).

How are we doing this?

In general, conventional construction techniques that use reinforced concrete, masonry, steel and to a very small extent wood are applied in Türkiye. Although wood is one of the oldest construction materials, it has not been used widely for constructing buildings for the last 40-50 years. The construction materials alternatives to wood such as plastic and metal that are comparatively cheap, easy to access and with similar durability has been replaced wood for building components such as windows, doors, floorings. Wood had been used in the local architecture with stone and masonry for centuries according to the climate and region. Especially in the northern parts of Türkiye, where forests are widespread and wood can be obtained easily, wood can be seen in many traditional Turkish buildings especially in residential buildings.

Timber is an effective carbon sink which can sequester carbon dioxide. It is estimated the construction related emissions from wooden construction are 10-15 percent lower than from concrete and steel are produced from energy intensive processes that release large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. (Source: Yale School of Forestry – Carbon, Fossil Fuel and Biodiversity Mitigation with Wood and Forests, - 2014) This means that energy efficient wooden housing using CLT and other wooden construction materials can be considered to be an environmentally friendly technology, which sequesters carbon dioxide and helps Türkiye with meeting its climate change goals.

The project focus on removing barriers to promoting improved wood based technologies by reducing the legislative and regulatory barriers (Component 1), removing cost and financial barriers through demonstration projects (Component 2) and removing barriers on unsustainable demand and supply chain by awareness raising and capacity building activities (Component 3). The focus of the project will be on supporting the implementation of mainly CLT in the buildings sector and it is expected that the awareness raising and capacity building activities will also lead to an increase of other types of wood use in the building sector, such as structural timber (ST) or Glued Laminated Timber (GLT). Whereas the core focus of the project will be on the promotion of buildings made out of CLT (with certain parts provided by ST and GLT), the project will also look at integrating CLT in refurbishments (e.g. adding floors on existing buildings made out of CLT) as well as combining CLT and wood products with other building materials (e.g. buildings with a concrete core with floors, walls and ceilings made out of CLT). The project is positively contributing to achieving to Türkiye’s INDC, which gave special importance to increasing energy efficiency in buildings sector through measures such as reducing the consumption of primary energy sources of new buildings through improved building materials and is also supporting the building sector to be a low carbon economy in line with European regulations on energy in the building sector.

What is our mission?

Our mission is to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals SDG 8, 9, 11, 13 and 15. 

SDG 8 - Contribute to economic growth through supporting the establishment and use of a new building material

SDG 9 - Through CLT introducing an innovative approach of using wood in the construction of building SDG 11 - Contribute to sustainable cities and communities by supporting the construction of energy efficient buildings.

SDG 13 - Reduce GHG emissions

SDG 15 - Contribute to sustainable management of forests by assuring Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) Criteria & Indicators are in place for wood used for CLT production

How will Türkiye benefit?

At the end of the project, 165,715 tons of CO2e emissions will be avoided for emissions outside of AFOLU. 1,433 TJ of energy will be saved. During these activities, it is targeted to reach 900 beneficiaries. Of these beneficiaries, 35% are women and 65% are men.

To achieve these targets: 

• National strategy on low-cost energy-efficient wooden buildings will be prepared.
• Legal and regulatory framework on low-cost energy-efficient wooden buildings will be prepared
• Institutional structure to support low-cost energy-efficient buildings will be established
• The total capacity of CLT and other wood technologies production by wood companies benefiting from the FSM (Financial Support Mechanism) will be determined.
• In the first phase, 6 pilot projects will be implemented, and in the second phase, 25 pilot projects will be carried out, totaling 43,400 m² of construction. 

• Training and capacity-building activities will be conducted.

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Contact information for any grievance that may occur during the implementation of the project is given below.

Address : Oran Mah, Mustafa Fehmi Gerçeker Sokak No:12 06450 Çankaya, Ankara, Türkiye) 

Telephone: +00903124541100

E-mail: ayse.usta@undp.org