The transition to the green economy: The European Green Deal and Turkey's green economy performance

In the last ten years, the effects of climate change have been felt more with economic and environmental problems. This has led to more emphasis on green economic policies. Many industrialized countries, especially the European Union, have turned to green new deal policies and announced carbon-neutral targets for 2050 and beyond. The European Union has taken an important step in the transition to a green economy by announcing its goal of being the first climate-neutral continent in 2050 with the European Green Deal in 2019. In order not to fall behind this new transformation in the context of combating climate change and harmonization with the European Green Deal, Turkey started transition to a green economy in 2021. This study aims to determine where Turkey is in the green economy in the context of harmonization with the European Green Deal by determining its green economy performance. For this purpose, the GEP index was constructed using the Green Economy Progress Measurement Framework. The green economy progress of Turkey and the European Union between the years 2011-2020 are addressed the problem comparatively. Green economy progress were calculated with 13 green economies and 5 dashboard of sustainability. Turkey's sustainable and inclusive industrial development outlook was determined using the indicators of the Sustainable Development Goal-9 index. The results show that much more action is needed for Turkey's transition to a green economy. Although Turkey has made positive progress towards a green economy, it has experienced a decline, especially in sustainability indicators in the context of harmonization with the European Green Deal. This shows that Turkey needs to make more improvements in environmental indicators. Keywords: Green economy, European Green Deal, Climate change, Sustainability, Green Economy Progress Index