Türkiye Publishes Green Taxonomy Regulation
Türkiye’s Green Taxonomy Regulation took effect after being published in the Official Gazette, the government’s official record, on Sept. 24, 2026.
The regulation sets out the principles for determining which economic activities can be classified as green and sustainable. It is also intended to prevent companies from exploiting public concern for the environment through greenwashing.
The regulation also establishes a framework for sustainable finance and capital-market instruments, imposing reporting requirements on companies seeking access to such financing as well as on the financial institutions that provide it.
Under the regulation, an economic activity must make a substantial contribution to at least one of six environmental objectives to be considered aligned with the green taxonomy, while doing no significant harm to any of the others. Activities must also comply with minimum social safeguards.
The six environmental objectives are:
• Reducing greenhouse-gas emissions
• Adapting to climate change
• The sustainable use and protection of water and marine resources
• The transition to a circular economy
• Pollution prevention and control
• The protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems
Reporting Will Be Required for Green Financing
The regulation, which was prepared in alignment with the European Union’s taxonomy framework and other international regulations, introduces reporting requirements for financial institutions including brokerage firms, investment companies, portfolio-management companies, banks, insurers, reinsurers and pension companies.
Mandatory reporting will begin on Jan. 1, 2029, although financial institutions may report voluntarily before that date.
Companies engaged in activities listed in the regulation’s annex may also report voluntarily, using templates to be established by Türkiye’s Climate Change Directorate.
Those companies, however, will be required to report if they want access to sustainable loans or capital-market financing. Financial institutions will also be permitted to request such reports from them.
The reports will eventually be made publicly available through an Online Taxonomy Management System, which is to be introduced at a later stage.
Further Regulations Still to Come
The regulation cannot be fully implemented until a series of secondary rules are issued.
Among the most important will be the technical screening criteria to be published by the Climate Change Directorate. These criteria will determine in greater detail how economic activities are assessed against the taxonomy’s environmental requirements.
If the criteria are revised in subsequent years, updates must be published by Dec. 15 and will take effect the following year.
Türkiye’s Capital Markets Board, Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency, and Insurance and Private Pension Regulation and Supervision Agency will each issue separate rules and procedures governing reporting by the institutions under their supervision.
The Climate Change Directorate will also establish a Taxonomy Transition Plan and publish the rules and procedures governing how that plan will operate.
The directorate is also expected to issue separate rules and procedures for the verification of taxonomy reports.