What happened
Türkiye’s Ministry of Labour and Social Security has presented a National Just Transition Strategy and Action Plan. Labour and Social Security Minister Vedat Işıkhan announced the plan at a launch event in Mardin.
The strategy addresses changes associated with climate change, the green transition, digitalisation, artificial intelligence and emerging production technologies. It considers their implications for jobs, incomes, working conditions, skills, social protection, health, regional development and inclusion.
Preparation began with a meeting of the Just Transition Policies Specialised Working Group on 16 June 2022. The process involved more than 1,000 stakeholders and examined 17 sectors across 33 thematic areas.
The selected sectors are steel, aluminium, energy, cement, fertiliser, chemicals and plastics, mining of critical and strategic minerals, recycling and waste, textiles and apparel, automotive, information and communication technologies, defence, agriculture, tourism, retail, construction, and finance and insurance.
Why it matters
Five of the selected sectors—steel, aluminium, energy, cement and fertiliser—were identified partly because of their connection to the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM/SKDM). Companies in these fields, and in other trade-exposed sectors, may need workforce and operational plans alongside their emissions-reduction efforts.
The strategy anticipates that the transition will more often alter tasks and skills than eliminate jobs. Measures are therefore intended to reflect the circumstances of individual sectors and regions rather than follow a single model.
Planned actions include a social-risk map for the transition, early measures for occupations highly exposed to artificial intelligence, updated green and digital content in Vocational Training Centre curricula, and stronger access to occupational-competence certification for women. The plan also envisages social-security models for new forms of work and a Türkiye-specific list of climate-sensitive diseases.
What's next
Micro-credentials for green and digital transition fields are scheduled for development by 2028. Consultation boards on the just transition will be set up in provinces covering four pilot sectors.
The Ministry will track delivery twice a year through numerical performance indicators in its action-plan monitoring system. Reports will be reviewed in meetings chaired by a deputy minister, published on the ministry’s website, and may lead to revisions at year-end.
The plan states that 10% of revenues collected under the Climate Law will support these activities. National funding, international climate and development finance, and private-sector resources are also expected to contribute.
Further details are available through the Ministry’s national just-transition policy documents.
