Due to our main lines of business, we prioritize managing the environmental impacts of our operations. The fight against climate change, the expected result of many of these effects, is essential. We work to protect biodiversity and natural resources by minimizing our environmental impacts, investing in promising research and development projects such as carbon capture technologies, and contributing to a sustainable future by generating added value.

Biodiversity

Biodiversity refers to the diversity of ecosystems, genes, and species and the ecological practices that support them. This natural diversity in ecosystems provides the community with essential economic benefits and services such as food, clothing, shelter, fuel, and medicine, as well as ecological, recreational, cultural, and aesthetic values. Therefore, its role and importance in sustainable development are undeniable. From a macroeconomic perspective, sustaining life on earth depends on protecting biodiversity. But the effects of climate change, and the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services in many parts of the world, are a concern due to changes associated with human health and economic development.

We believe that protecting biodiversity is a shared responsibility.

We recognize the importance of biodiversity in vital and economic continuity, and we adopt protecting and supporting ecological diversity as a joint responsibility with our group companies. With the awareness that our activities may affect local ecosystems and biodiversity in all sectors and regions where we are active, we are working hard to avoid and reduce the negative impacts of our projects and operations on sensitive species, habitats, and ecosystems.

In this context, we carried out pioneering work on the protection of seagrass meadows and their subsequent monitoring with periodic censuses, with the support of Dokuz Eylül University, during the construction period of the STAR Refinery.

Preservation of Natural Resources

We hold ourselves accountable to the planet and all our stakeholders and attach importance to creating a safe, reliable, and sustainable environment wherever we operate. While doing our job, we focus on continuous improvement and use our time and resources most effectively and efficiently.
In the activities we carry out within the scope of our environmental management approach, we aim to prevent environmental pollution, reduce wastes and emissions resulting from our production activities, increase resource consumption, and minimize the effects of our actions on biodiversity. With this attitude, we implement the necessary practices to limit and control environmental impacts.

We are committed to protecting the environment, human health, and all resources.

We evaluate the wastes generated as a result of our operations within the "waste management hierarchy," consisting of the steps of "prevention, re-use, reduction, recycling, and disposal."

With the Zero Waste Management System we have commissioned, we implement the necessary procedures to prevent or minimize waste generation in production, consumption, and service processes. In addition, we aim to reduce the amount of waste disposed of by recycling to prioritize the re-use of wastes and protect the environment, human health, and all resources. In this way, we also support the prevention of waste and the efficient use of resources.

Energy Efficiency

As we move towards our goal of becoming net zero, we constantly observe industry trends and market dynamics and aim to make significant changes in the field of energy management. Through our energy management policy we implement in our subsidiaries, we focus on low-carbon energy, operational efficiency and emission reduction. We aim to reduce energy consumption in all our activities. Accordingly, we invest in new equipments that will enable us to use energy more efficiently and in renovation projects that will reduce energy use.

Monitoring of Climate Change Risks

The Corporate Governance and Sustainability Committee, which we have established to advise on initiatives that will ensure we have the highest corporate governance standards and for the development of our corporate governance, monitors the implementation, realization, and declaration of strategies on climate change.

We develop sustainability strategies to prevent climate change risks from greenhouse gas emissions, adapt our business model to energy transformation, and maintain our leading position in the sector by seizing the opportunities brought by this transformation. We set our targets for emission reduction and climate change in line with these strategies.

Managing the impacts that may cause climate change is an integral part of our business strategy.

In our specific risk management process aimed at responding to climate change risks promptly and effectively, we focus on identifying climate change risks, their possible effects, and necessary actions.

We adopt the management of our impacts that may cause climate change as an integral part of our business strategy. We aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions due to the nature of our activities. We focus our efforts on two main focuses: increasing energy efficiency and obtaining energy needs from renewable sources as much as possible. We implement projects that make a difference in energy efficiency and digitalization under the "Value is My Platform," which evolves with the business ideas of our employees.

In the management of climate change risks, we focus on the monitoring and calculation of greenhouse gas emissions arising from our activities as well as energy efficiency. To this end, we measure and report our greenhouse gas emissions instantaneously, in line with the relevant legal regulations, to prevent exceeding the limits. After authorized institutions verify the calculated values, we regularly report them to the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization, and Climate Change of the Republic of Türkiye.

The second step in our fight against climate change is our efforts to take advantage of opportunities. The expectations set forth within the framework of the European Green Agreement include risks for emission-intensive industries and product groups, as well as various opportunities, especially in the field of R&D and innovation, along with practices that will reduce this intensity. At SOCAR Türkiye, we follow these opportunities closely and focus on creating added value for society using the latest technologies. At our SOCAR Türkiye R&D and Innovation Center, we lead the way in executing projects that serve sustainable development in a wide range, from carbon capture technologies to recycling plastic waste and bringing it to the petrochemical industry.

We are taking concrete actions towards decarbonization.

Within the scope of the decarbonization strategy, which is the first of our sustainability strategies, we are taking essential steps towards reducing our absolute emissions from our operational activities by 40% by 2035 and reaching the net zero emission target by 2050. The carbon tax at the border, which will be implemented with the Paris Climate Agreement and the European Green Agreement, increases the importance of adaptation activities carried out for this purpose in our country and the critical role of the energy sector in preventing climate change.

For Scope 1 and 2 emissions, we aim for a 40% reduction by 2035 and net zero emissions by 2050.

We aim to implement our decarbonization strategy within the scope of current changes in legal regulations for our 2050 target, closely monitor and evaluate potential projects in critical new areas, establish partnerships, and expand the scope of our work by implementing carbon-balancing projects at the same time.

In addition, we conduct Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies, the most reliable international environmental impact analysis methodology, to determine our environmental impact and improvement areas on a product basis.

We support “just transition"

During the transition to sustainable energy, we are committed to cooperating with all our stakeholders and customers who may be affected by the new regulations we have introduced. We act with the approach of "leaving no one behind" in all our activities, from using alternative energy sources to our decarbonization strategy. We progress towards the result by considering the livelihoods of our stakeholder groups. As a responsible employer, we always attach great importance to the support of our human resources, and we guarantee that we will provide process management that will prevent possible employment losses.

Circular Economy

In line with our sustainability strategy, we focus our efforts on supporting the circular economy. We carry out studies to recycle wastes as a primary input to the country's industry with sustainable technologies. For this, we develop potential partnerships with the leading actors of the sector and aim to be a leading institution in the recycling field with pioneering investments. The work we carry out in the waste reduction, recycling, and circular economy includes essential issues such as zero waste management system practices, tracking Waste KPI data, and sending biodegradable waste to compost facilities.

Energy efficiency studies at RPBU in 2023

As SOCAR Türkiye RPBU, we base our energy activities on respect for people and the environment by focusing on protecting our natural environment and reducing greenhouse gas emissions with minimum environmental impact. In this context, waste is reduced and the recycling rate is increased. The use of natural resources is reduced, proactive management is adopted at every point, and domestic and renewable resources are given priority with a sustainable development and growth policy.

Energy supply and demand balance is created with an energy strategy that optimizes technological, economic, social and environmental factors; raw materials, products and services are supplied and used in an energy efficient manner; energy performance is taken into consideration in the design of our facilities, systems and processes.

A successful strategic energy management plan sets goals, progress and reports results while building long-term relationships with energy users and targeting persistent energy savings. Effective planning ensures continuous improvement of energy efficiency, sustainability and can reduce energy costs.

In 2023, it is planned to save 650 000 Gcal/year and the corresponding 160 000 te CO2/year with 40 investment and non-investment energy efficiency projects as a result of the joint work of all disciplines to become a part of the solution for accomplishing the goal of sustainability within Petkim and Star Refinery.