“Over the years we’ve invested significantly in our field data team - focusing on producing trusted ratings. While this ensures the accuracy of our Ratings, it doesn’t allow the scale across the thousands of projects that buyers are considering.”
For more information on carbon credit procurement trends, read our "Key Takeaways for 2025" article. We share five, data-backed tips to improve your procurement strategy.
One more thing: Connect to Supply customers also get access to the rest of Sylvera's tools. That means you can easily see project ratings and evaluate an individual project's strengths, procure quality carbon credits, and even monitor project activity (particularly if you’ve invested at the pre-issuance stage.)
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Türkiye’s COP agenda built on electrification and technology
Türkiye's COP31 Presidency has set out a distinctive agenda. Climate action is now closely tied to technology, energy security, and economic growth. In September 2026, COP31 President-Designate Murat Kurum launched two flagship initiatives in New York:
The 35-by-35 Global Electrification Pledge aims to raise electricity's share of global final energy consumption to 35% by 2035. Supporting initiatives cover buildings, transport, industry, and modern grids, including a compact to cut energy-use intensity in buildings by at least 25% by 2035.
The Antalya Pledge on Artificial Intelligence sets out how AI should be designed, powered, and managed in support of climate goals. It is being developed with the UN's International Telecommunication Union. A companion AI for Clean Technologies Initiative will connect AI-enabled clean-tech pilots with investors.
Türkiye has also joined the Open Coalition on Compliance Carbon Markets alongside the EU, Brazil, and China. And the country’s aim is to move the carbon market architecture built in recent years into real-world delivery, mainly through harmonization.
These are important foundational steps in creating the environment for investment, providing market predictability and buyer confidence.
Türkiye's carbon credit markets: An overview
Türkiye is building a carbon market from scratch, and fast. In just over a year, it has passed its first climate law, put an ETS into operation, and drafted the rules for a national crediting scheme. With the EU CBAM now charging for embedded emissions at the border and Türkiye hosting COP31 this year, the stakes for exporters, project developers, and carbon credit buyers are rising.
The system is built in layers. One framework law sets the structure, and separate instruments fill in the detail.
The foundation: Climate Law No. 7552 (In force since 9 July 2025)
Türkiye’s first climate law sets out the overall structure and leaves the operational detail to secondary rules, which must be in place by the end of 2027.
- A national ETS (TR ETS), anchored in Türkiye’s 2053 net-zero target and designed to align with the EU ETS and the EU CBAM.
- A Carbon Market Board (CMB) chaired by the Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, which oversees the ETS and the offsetting system.
- A domestic crediting system, with carbon credits from Turkish projects able to cover up to 10% of a company’s ETS obligations.
- Mandatory registration for every carbon project in Türkiye, whether it uses national or international standards.
- Energy Exchange Istanbul (EPİAŞ) as operator of the ETS registry and secondary market.
The rulebook: TR ETS Regulation (In force since 27 August 2026)
This turns the ETS from principle into practice:
- Who’s in: installations emitting more than 50,000 tCO2e a year. Smaller ones only monitor and report.
- How it runs: rules for free allocation, the ETS registry, and market stability.
- The cap: to be set separately in a National Allocation Plan.
The starting gun: CMB decision on the pilot phase (Adopted October 2026)
This sets the ETS in motion:
- Five sectors first: electricity, cement, iron and steel, aluminum, and fertilizers. These mirror the EU CBAM.
- A soft launch: 2026 is reporting only. The first compliance obligation covers 2027 emissions, with all allowances free.
- The road ahead: full compliance periods in 2028–2030 and 2031–2035.
- A surprise on carbon credits: they can be used in the pilot if the CMB specifically approves it, despite earlier signals that they wouldn’t be.
The missing piece: Draft Carbon Crediting and Offsetting Regulation (Under consultation since August 2025)
This is where the carbon credit market takes shape:
- Turquoise Credits: issued by the Türkiye Carbon Offsetting System (TR KDS), using domestic methodologies and verification.
- Two new registries: one for TR KDS projects, and one for projects under international standards and Article 6 transactions. Neither exists yet.
- A deadline for existing projects: 90 days to register once the international registry launches.
Türkiye's role in Article 6
The draft Carbon Crediting and Offsetting Regulation brings domestic and international carbon markets under one framework, but Article 6 is where Türkiye’s rules are least settled. The country could take part as a buyer, a seller, or both. Its Climate Change Mitigation Strategy and Action Plan commits to evaluating participation in Article 6, and its NDC 3.0 reserves the right to use it without committing to either role.
NDC 3.0 caps emissions at 643 MtCO2e in 2035, a cut of 466 MtCO2e against a business-as-usual projection of 1,109 MtCO2e. How much of that cut Türkiye plans to make at home will decide whether it authorizes credit exports or buys internationally transferred mitigation outcomes (ITMOs) to close a gap.
Readiness is low. Türkiye has signed no Article 6.2 agreements, issued no Letters of Authorization (LoAs), and applied no corresponding adjustments (CAs). It has not submitted an Article 6.4 participation form either, and it has no Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects to move to the Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism. As an Annex I country, it could not host CDM projects, so its supply grew up on independent standards instead.
The building blocks are in draft. The draft regulation acknowledges LoAs under Article 6.2 and sets out high-level requirements for Article 6.4. A planned Turkish International Carbon Registry System would track authorizations and CAs, and could also record imported credits if Türkiye becomes a buyer. The Climate Law also counts contributions from carbon credits sold in international markets as a source of revenue.
Türkiye carbon credit market: Headline numbers
Registry balance: 118.8 million
Retired carbon credits to date: 82.0 million
Issuing projects: 313
Sylvera-rated projects: 49
Türkiye's 313 issuing projects are almost all renewable energy (270), followed by waste management (28) and biogas (11).
Türkiye carbon credit prices
Türkiye's prices reflect a supply base dominated by renewable energy. Methane capture and fuel switch credits command a premium higher than wind and hydropower.
Türkiye carbon credit issuance breakdown
Türkiye issued 10.0M credits between 1 January and 15 October 2026, after 17.6M in 2025. Since its 2021 peak, annual issuance has settled at 14–19M.
Carbon credit project types
In terms of credits issued in Türkiye in 2026, the breakdown by project category shows:
- Renewable energy at 66%.
- Fugitive and industrial gases at 18%, driven by landfill and other methane capture.
- Energy efficiency and fuel switch at 16%, up from 6% in 2025. This category features far more in issuances than in retirements, which suggests growing pipeline activity.
Eligibility
19% of credits issued in 2026 are potentially eligible for CORSIA's first phase (subject to host country authorization), up from 12% in 2025.
Türkiye carbon credit retirement breakdown
Buyers retired 6.7M Türkiye-based credits between 1 January and 15 October 2026, after 7.7M in 2025.
Carbon credit project types
Retirements are concentrated in renewables:
- Renewable energy leads at 88%.
- Fugitive and industrial gases follow at 12%.
- Energy efficiency and fuel switch credits make up under 0.1% of retirements
Eligibility
Credits potentially eligible for CORSIA's first phase made up 2% of retirements in 2026. With 19% of new issuance potentially eligible, that supply is yet to find compliance buyers. Use for CORSIA depends on host country authorization, and Türkiye has no experience issuing LoAs yet.
Türkiye's largest carbon credit projects
Top 10 Türkiye projects by credits issued, all time
Top 10 Türkiye projects by credits retired, all time
Türkiye's carbon credit market: Buying patterns
Most demand for Türkiye-based credits comes from abroad. Domestic corporate demand remains small, though the TR ETS could change that from 2028.
Top 10 buyers of Türkiye-based carbon credits
Six of the 10 largest all-time buyers retired nothing so far in 2026. Two buyers have filled the gap. EWE, the German energy and telecoms utility, and Yamato Transport, Japan's largest parcel delivery company, retired 1.76M credits between them in 2026, more than a quarter of all retirements from Türkiye's projects.
European energy suppliers feature heavily, suggesting Türkiye's renewables credits are popular for carbon-neutral energy tariffs.
Top 10 Türkiye-based buyers (projects not just from Türkiye)
Banks lead domestic demand. Four of the top 10 Türkiye-based buyers are financial institutions. Aviation is the second pillar, with airports and airlines featuring prominently, led by Fraport TAV Antalya Airport, the COP31 host city's main gateway, across nine projects. Turkish Airlines retires credits steadily across eight projects.
The TR ETS could create new domestic demand from 2028, but this is expected to apply only to Turquoise Credits issued under the national TR KDS scheme, not for today's Verra and Gold Standard supply.
What COP31 could mean for Türkiye
The Presidency's focus on electrification and clean power mirrors what the country's carbon market has long financed in renewables. In a sense, Türkiye's voluntary carbon market has contributed to the transition it is now looking to accelerate.
As clean power becomes the default, the case that renewables need carbon finance gets weaker, and buyers are likely to look elsewhere for impact. The opportunity may shift toward areas the COP agenda highlights but carbon markets have barely reached: efficient buildings and industrial decarbonization. And there are complexities around how clean power claims, carbon credits, and energy certificates will fit together as data center demand grows.
How far Türkiye's market can make that shift will depend on the rules it sets next. Those choices could determine whether its carbon market moves beyond its renewables legacy and toward the next phase of the transition.
Access carbon and commodities market insights first-hand
The data and insights in this analysis are drawn from Sylvera's Article 6 & CORSIA Hub and Market Intelligence. They help the market navigate policy risk, assess market opportunities, and make informed decisions.
The Article 6 & CORSIA Hub brings supply, demand, and compliance risk together in one place. It tracks Letters of Authorization and corresponding adjustments, scores host countries' willingness and ability to authorize credits, and provides bottom-up supply, demand, and price forecasts.
Market Intelligence delivers real-time visibility into supply, demand, pricing, and buyer behavior. Users can analyze issuance and retirement trends by project type, registry, and eligibility (CORSIA, CCP, compliance schemes), and access pricing data that reveals quality premiums.
Get a demo to explore how Sylvera's tools and data can help you navigate evolving carbon markets.
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Data sourced from Sylvera's Market Intelligence suite. 2026 figures cover issuances and retirements between 1 January and 15 October 2026, aggregated across major voluntary carbon market registries.
