The Visionary'21 Summit organized by the Independent Industrialists and Businessmen Association (MÜSİAD) was held at the Haliç Congress Centre. At the event, MÜSİAD called on the business world to fight the climate crisis under the heading “Take Notice of the Climate” and announced its 10-article Climate Manifesto, which serves as a guide on climate change.
MÜSİAD Visionary'21, whose summit heading was determined as “Take Notice”, addressed many topics from the climate crisis to digital transformation and the entrepreneurial ecosystem with the sub-headings “Take Notice of the Digital”, “Take Notice of the Climate”, “Take Notice of Enterprise” and “Take Notice of Transformation”. With the heading “Take Notice of the Climate”, Visionary'21 drew attention to the importance of sustainable and renewable energy transformation for a stronger and more sustainable economy.
Saying “Take Notice of the Climate” and inviting the business world to an all-out fight against the climate crisis, MÜSİAD drew attention to the headings “Sustainable Renewable Energy”, “Green Fuel Projection”, “Low or Zero Carbon Emission Energy Production”, “Circular Economy”, Digitalization of Energy” and “Policies Suitable for Industrial Transformation for the Paris Climate Agreement” and announced its Climate Manifesto.
MÜSİAD Visionary'21 Executive Board Chairman Erkan Gül made the following statement: “As MÜSİAD, we are aware of our responsibilities. Setting sustainable and renewable energy transformations as our target, we have put our signature under our manifesto. Our Energy and Environment Sector Board within our organization and our Advisory Board consisting of our esteemed academics have completed their work”.
MÜSİAD President Mahmut Asmalı: “The future of the world's climate is more important than the interests of a few countries”
Stating that the Advisory Board includes Türkiye's esteemed academics Prof. Dr. Kerem Alkin, Dr. Sohbet Karbuz, Prof. Dr. İsmail Ekmekçi and Dr. Cihad Terzioğlu, MÜSİAD President Mahmut Asmalı spoke as follows at Visionary'21: “Unfortunately, our country is day by day losing its four-season character; a tornado can occur in the middle of İstanbul, or snow can fall on Antalya in an unprecedented manner. In short, climates are changing and global warming is affecting our lives. MÜSİAD believes that every living being that has been created has the right to a quality and just life, and that the future of the world's climate is more important than the interests of a few countries. In accordance with its principles and its faith, it declares that it will take every kind of step to protect the world entrusted to humanity, and that it will use all its power on the international scale in order to be the voice of the silent majority in the world. MÜSİAD supports the global climate change policy that plans to limit the global average surface temperature to +1.5°C, on condition that it is applied justly and equally to all countries of the world and provides a transition to a sustainable future. It declares that, in order to prepare its more than 11,000 members for this process and to assume a role in Türkiye's climate policy, it will be a pioneer of the transformation in the following subject headings.”
Stating that they are ready to meet and cooperate with everyone whose common denominator is producing benefit for humanity, in order to protect the world and to ensure the climate balance that is the right of all the world's children, Asmalı said to the business world: “Come, let us know our responsibilities and protect what has been entrusted to us”.
The 10-article Climate Manifesto published by MÜSİAD is as follows:
1. We support the sustainably increasing use of renewable energy and declare that we will advance towards net zero emissions by generating from green energy at our head office.
2. We will carry out work within the MÜSİAD ecosystem for the development of green hydrogen, next-generation battery, carbon capture and renewable gas technologies.
3. We declare that, through the circular economy, we will support the increase of industrial symbiosis so that one industrial waste becomes raw material or energy for another, and that together with our members we will support the transition to green production in organized industrial zones.
4. We announce that we will carry out awareness work for our industrialists on energy efficiency and energy saving, and we declare that we support the creation of an energy efficiency database.
5. We announce that, for the efficient use of Türkiye's increasingly diminishing water resources, we will be a supporter of every kind of work on alternatives to flood irrigation in agriculture and on circular water use in industry.
6. We support the zero waste policy and declare that MÜSİAD will continuously inform its members about the effects of climate change and will take action by evaluating every organization it holds and its civil society work in terms of carbon emissions.
7. Being aware that with the climate change process the importance of climate diplomacy for our country has increased, we declare that, through all of MÜSİAD's international and domestic platforms, we will provide support for every effort to be made by our state to develop our climate diplomacy.
8. We request that the Emissions Trading System be established in Türkiye with an infrastructure appropriate to the conditions.
9. We see that millions of people may be forced to leave the places where they live and may become climate refugees, and we declare that we will carry out work on climate refugeehood through MÜSİAD's international mission.
10. We request the creation of a state policy, on the basis of MÜSİAD's values, for the reduction of global food waste reaching %30 in the world, and we declare that we will provide unconditional support for the policy.
