Considering combating climate change and inclusive growth as one of its main strategies, Garanti BBVA is launching a series of events called 'Sustainable Future in Exports' to support our country’s adaptation to the European Green Deal and to pave the way for sustainable investments. The Bank, which held the first of this series of events on November 23, 2022 at Fişekhane Istanbul, aims to explain the new process , initiated with the introduction of the European Green Deal and the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), to the sectors and institutions that will be affected by these processes in their exports to the EU, especially SMEs, by offering concrete suggestions as well as to answer questions in people’s minds, and to pave the way for the mobilization of institutions by providing consultancy on the "Green Deal".
The opening speeches were delivered by Recep Baştuğ, General Manager of Garanti BBVA, and Mustafa Tuzcu, Deputy Minister of Trade. Mustafa Gültepe, President of Turkish Exporters Assembly, Recep Baştuğ, General Manager of Garanti BBVA, Levent Kurnaz, Director of Boğaziçi University Climate Change and Policies Application and Research Center, and Güray Değerli, General Manager of Ankara University Teknokent, participated in the panel on "What Should Turkey Do While Preparing for the European Green Deal?" moderated by journalist and writer Ilgaz Gürsoy, and shared important information about what institutions and companies should consider when planning their near future. In other panels on "New Business Normal: Sustainability" and "Sharing Technical Information and Know-how in the Focus of Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism," experts in their fields informed exporters about technical issues.
Sustainability Themed Loan Package for customers that want to reduce greenhouse gas emissions...
During the event, Garanti BBVA also launched the new Sustainability Themed Loan Package developed by the bank to facilitate and support the efforts of its customers who want to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Within the scope of the loan package, Garanti BBVA customers who want to reduce their carbon emissions will not only benefit from the experience and communication network, but will also be able to benefit from a loan package with advantageous interest rates. The Bank, which also cooperates with the Turkish Standards Institution within the scope of the loan package, will provide support to its customers in capacity development. Garanti BBVA customers will be informed about greenhouse gas management while reducing carbon emissions.Providing information about the 'Sustainable Future in Export' meetings, Garanti BBVA General Manager Recep Baştuğ said, "If we continue as we do today, we will unfortunately exceed the target of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees by 2050. Currently, 1.1 of this has already been exceeded. If we continue this way, the remaining part will be exceeded in 2025, 2026 and the world will enter an irreversible process. Therefore, we urgently need to change our current ways of doing business. The biggest actors of the transformation in the fight against the climate crisis will be us, the financial sector and producers. At Garanti BBVA, we decided to organize the "Sustainable Future in Exports" awareness-raising meetings in order to protect ourselves from material and moral damages that may occur in the future and to contribute to the successful emergence of our country and our country's producers from this process.
Recep Baştuğ continued: "We call the European Union's roadmap to sustainability the Green Deal. The changes targeted under the Green Deal are divided into 8 sub-items. It is quite clear that all of these sub-items will affect our lives. One of the issues that needs urgent action, and which we believe is the most important, is the border carbon regulation mechanism. Reporting will begin in 2023, and taxation of exports to third countries will be on the agenda in 2026. In the meantime, there is also talk of bringing the agreement forward earlier. In other words, exporting companies that do not produce according to the specified criteria will have to pay a very high carbon tax. Considering that about 67% of our exports go to developed countries, the additional tax costs that will be imposed on carbon-intensive sectors under the border carbon regulation by 2026 could be as high as 1 billion euros per year. That's why we urgently need to transform our production techniques for sustainability. At Garanti BBVA, we will support our stakeholders in the green transformation process with all our resources."