CDR Türkiye, launched to help durable carbon dioxide removal develop in Türkiye and the wider region, is up and running as of today.
We are dedicating this issue to an initiative we have been working on for some time: CDR Türkiye. Founded by Pınar Öncel, Göker Avcı and Atilla Yücel, CDR Türkiye is an independent platform focused on the development of durable carbon dioxide removal in Türkiye and the wider region. Its website, www.cdrturkiye.com, is live as of today. You can read the full launch announcement by clicking this link.
In this issue, we share why we founded CDR Türkiye, how we will work and what comes next.
Why CDR Türkiye
Durable carbon removal means taking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and storing it for centuries to millennia: underground, in rock, in the ocean, or in long-lived materials. Cutting emissions remains the priority. Reaching climate goals, however, also requires balancing the residual emissions of hard-to-abate sectors with these methods.
Global demand in this field is rising fast. Yet the new projects needed to meet it remain limited. Closing that gap depends on projects in new places, built to credible standards.
Türkiye brings together many of the conditions that novel carbon dioxide removal projects need:
- Heavy industry at scale. Türkiye is among the world’s leading producers of cement and steel. These plants generate the mineral, heat and waste streams that several removal pathways can use.
- Biomass. Extensive agricultural and forest land provides, through its residues, a significant feedstock source for biochar and other biomass-based pathways.
- Clean energy. Türkiye is among the world’s leading countries in geothermal power, and its renewable energy capacity continues to grow.
- Geology. Basalt and ophiolite formations are widespread. Depleted oil and gas fields and deep saline formations also offer underground storage potential that has yet to be fully assessed. Establishing this mineral and underground storage potential is one of the most important research questions for the country.
- Location. Türkiye sits between Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia, the Caucasus, the Balkans and North Africa. With the models and pilots it puts in place, it is in a key position to advance carbon removal across this wider region.
These conditions do not turn into projects on their own. There is still no common ground bringing together project developers, industry, finance, public institutions and academia. CDR Türkiye was founded to build it.
CDR Türkiye takes a technology-neutral approach across durable carbon removal pathways and has identified industrial integration as the most concrete theme for Türkiye. Balancing the unavoidable residual emissions of sectors such as cement, steel and chemicals with durable removal, and turning the waste, heat and mineral streams of those plants into removal capacity, promise significant gains for the climate and for circularity.
The first priority is to establish Türkiye’s potential on verified evidence, bring together the stakeholders who can act on it, and accelerate the market. Building on that experience, the aim is to help Türkiye take a leading role across the Mediterranean, the Balkans, the Middle East, Central Asia and the Caucasus.
Compass 2030
The work is guided by Compass 2030, which sets out six outcomes we aim to see in Türkiye by 2030:
- Carbon removal readiness assessment. Measuring Türkiye’s readiness across geology, industrial capacity, regulation and finance.
- National carbon removal strategy. Defining the role of durable removal within the national climate framework.
- Demand creation. Building a coalition of public and private buyers and channelling that demand into first projects through advance market commitments and offtake agreements.
- Financing for pilot projects. Establishing a financing structure that brings together public resources, development banks and private capital.
- ETS integration. Recognising durable removal within the Turkish Emissions Trading System under credible rules.
- Regional partnerships. Building partnerships that make Türkiye a hub where projects are developed with neighbouring countries and experience is shared.
CDR Brief and CDR Stage, now part of CDR Türkiye
CDR Brief and CDR Stage, launched within COP31 Türkiye Brief in February 2026, laid the foundation for CDR Türkiye. The articles published and sessions held over this period built a body of content that moved from the basics of carbon removal to markets, finance and policy, with speakers from the Climate High-Level Champions, Isometric, the Negative Emissions Platform, CDR2030 and RMI.
Both formats will continue under CDR Türkiye once COP31 Türkiye Brief completes its mission at the end of the year. In the coming period, CDR Brief will be published as CDR Türkiye Brief, focusing on Türkiye and neighbouring regions. CDR Stage will continue as CDR Türkiye’s event series.
CDR Türkiye at COP31
CDR Türkiye will take part in two sessions at COP31, held in Antalya in November:
- 16 November, 16:00 · Green Zone, Ziraat Bankası stand. Göker Avcı will speak on the panel “The State and the Future of Carbon Dioxide Removal Projects”.
- 17 November, 12:30 · Blue Zone, Think Negative CDR Pavilion. Pınar Öncel will moderate the panel “Built to Last: Industrial Integration as a Route to Carbon Removal in Emerging Markets”.
Stay connected
- Subscribe to CDR Türkiye Brief: cdrturkiye.com/en/contact
- Website: www.cdrturkiye.com
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/cdr-turkiye
- Email: contact@cdrturkiye.com
