The eleventh in the Climate Café Talks series took place with Ethemcan Turhan’s talk on “In Search of a Different Loss and Damage Politics: Urban Climate Justice and Istanbul (Başka Bir Kayıp ve Zarar Siyasetini Aramak: Kentsel İklim Adaleti ve İstanbul)” on April 22, 2020.

Please click here to watch the webinar.

Please click here for more information about the Climate Cafe Talks.

The Initiative convened a panel titled “2017 Bonn Climate Summit – Impressions from COP23” on November 28, 2017 at IPC. Climate Studies Coordinator Ümit Şahin, 2017/18 MercatorIPC Fellows Pınar Ertör Akyazı and Barış Karapınar, 2014/15 Mercator-IPC Fellow Ethemcan Turhan, and Marmara University Department of Political Science and International Relations Faculty Member Semra Cerit Mazlum shared their general observations on the summit, as well as Turkey’s official position on the climate change regime, with academics, civil society representatives, and journalists in this field.

2016/17 Mercator-IPC Fellow Sarah Louise Nash, 2015/16 Mercator-IPC Fellow Christiane Fröhlich, and 2014/15 Mercator-IPC Fellow Ethemcan Turhan convened a workshop titled “Beyond Climate Migration” on April 20-21, 2017 at IPC. Dr. Andrew Baldwin from Durham University, UK, gave the keynote speech on “White World Order, International Relations, and Migration: Getting Beyond Climate Migration.”

IPC-Sabancı University-Stiftung Mercator Initiative convened a panel titled “2016 Climate Summit in Marrakech – Observations from COP22,” on November 21, 2016 at IPC. Climate Studies Coordinator Ümit Şahin, 2014/15 Mercator-IPC Fellow Ethemcan Turhan, 2016/17 Mercator-IPC Fellow Sarah Nash, and Marmara University Department of Political Science and International Relations Faculty Member Semra Cerit Mazlum shared their general observations on the summit, as well as Turkey’s official position on the climate change regime, with academics, civil society representatives, and journalists in this field.

IPC-Sabancı University-Stiftung Mercator Initiative organized a panel titled “2015 Paris Climate Summit- Observations from COP21″ on December 15, 2015 at IPC. IPC Climate Studies Coordinator Ümit Şahin, 2014/15 Mercator-IPC Fellow Ethemcan Turhan, 2015/16 Mercator-IPC Fellow Hande Paker and CDP Turkey Project Manager Mirhan Köroğlu Göğüş analyzed Turkey’s official position, the negotiation process and Paris Agreement at COP21. 

Climate Studies Coordinator Ümit Şahin and Mercator-IPC Fellow Ethemcan Turhan organized a press conference titled “Coal in Turkey’s Energy Future” in Paris on December 9, 2015. The event took place within the framework of COP21 meetings in Paris.

IPC-Sabancı University-Stiftung Mercator Initiative convened a seminar titled “Behind the life cycle of coal: Socio-environmental liabilities of coal mining in Cesar, Colombia” with Andrea Cardoso Diaz from Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain and Universidad de Magdalena, Colombia, on November 23, 2015 at IPC. The meeting was initiated by Mercator-IPC Fellow Ethemcan Turhan.

IPC-Sabancı University-Stiftung Mercator Initiative took part at Istanbul Climate Forum (İstanbul İklim Forumu) which was held on November 12-13, 2015 at Boğaziçi University, Garanti Cultural Center.

IPC-Sabancı University-Stiftung Mercator Initiative convened a roundtable meeting titled “Climate Change and Security” on October 14, 2015 at IPC. The meeting was initiated by  Mercator-IPC Fellow Ethemcan Turhan.

IPC-Sabancı University-Stiftung Mercator Initiative convened a seminar by Gavin Bridge on “Energy (in)security: World-Making in an Age of Scarcity” June 12, 2015 at IPC. The meeting was initiated by Mercator-IPC Fellow Ethemcan Turhan.

Mercator-IPC Fellow Ethemcan Turhan initiated a Turkish-German Expert Roundtable titled “Climate Change and Security in Turkey: Opportunities and Threats” that was held at Bilkent University on May 28-29, 2015.

The Turkish Ski Tourism Forum was organized by Mercator-IPC Fellow Cenk Demiroğlu on May 25, 2015. The major topics of the conference were climate change, market size and destination management.

An exhibition by famous documentary maker/photographer, especially focusing on environmental issues, Yann-Arthus Bertrand, was organized as part of the Young Scholars Workshop titled “Beyond Special Circumstances: Turkey and Global Climate Change Politics”  on April 22, 2015. Young Scholars Workshop was convened by Assoc. Prof. Semra Cerit Mazlum, Marmara University Research Center for International Relations (MURCIR) and Mercator-IPC Fellow Ethemcan Turhan on April 17, 2015.

The circumstances such as increasing investments in renewable energy sector and development of sectoral climate adaptation policies in many countries provide a unique opportunity to take action for sustainable development through the prism of climate change. In order to address these issues and prepare towards the 2015 Paris Climate Conference (COP21), the Agence Française de Développement (AFD), Marmara University Research Center for International Relations (MURCIR) and IPC-Sabancı University-Stiftung Mercator Initiative organized a two-day event (conference-debate and scientific workshop) on climate change on April 16-17, 2015.

On April 16, the conference-debate brought together French and Turkish representatives from public authorities, private sector, financial sector, academia and civil society to discuss the topic “How to reconcile climate and development?” The conference was followed by a cocktail and an exhibition of photographs titled “60 Solutions for Climate Change” by acclaimed photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand.

On April 17, the Young Scholars Workshop titled “Beyond Special Circumstances: Turkey and Global Climate Change Politics” gathered junior and senior academics as well as presenters from government institutions, NGOs and think tanks from around the world to exchange broadly on various aspects of climate change. This workshop also hosted two high-level keynote speakers:

Prof. Hilal Elver, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food; Professor of Global Studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara, USA

Prof. Franck LeCocq, IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) AR5 WGIII Lead Author; Director of CIRED (International Center for Environment and Development), France

IPC-Sabancı University-Stiftung Mercator Initiative convened a talk by Alevgül Şorman on “Understanding the Challenges of  Energy-Society Relations: The European Energy Scene vs. the Turkish Boom From a Societal Metabolism Perspective” on February 5, 2015 at IPC. The event was initiated by Mercator-IPC Fellow Ethemcan Turhan.

IPC-Sabancı University-Stiftung Mercator Initiative convened a talk by Felipe Milanez on “In Defense of Indigenous Spirits: Environmental Conflicts, Violence and Contradictions of Sustainable Development in Brazil” on January 15, 2015  between at IPC. The event was initiated by Mercator-IPC Fellow Ethemcan Turhan.

IPC-Sabancı University-Stiftung Mercator Initiative convened a seminar on “Rethinking Climate Change, Conflict and Security in Cyprus and the Sudans” on December 15, 2014 at IPC. The event was initiated by Mercator-IPC Fellow Ethemcan Turhan.

The partners of the Istanbul Policy Center-Sabancı University-Stiftung Mercator Initiative held a welcoming event on October 20, 2014 at Feriye Restaurant, Istanbul. The fellowship program is a five-year strategic partnership between Sabancı University and Stiftung Mercator. The program aims to strengthen academic, political, and social ties between Turkey and Germany, as well as between Turkey and Europe by facilitating excellent scientific research and hands-on policy work.