Sustainable development

China has proven that it is, in fact, very serious about its intentions to lessen dependence on coal. According to China’s National Energy Administration (NEA), the country has more than doubled its solar energy production in 2016—making them the biggest producer of solar energy (in terms of capacity) in the world.

Doğan Holding Chair Begümhan Doğan Faralyalı will attend the World Economic Forum 2017 in Davos, which will take place on Jan. 17-20, as the sole Turkish member in the Business and Sustainable Development Commission, which was launched in 2016 to enable the world to reach the U.N.'s Sustainable Development Goals. 

Companies could unlock at least $12 trillion in market opportunities by 2030 and create up to 380 million jobs by implementing a few key development goals, according to a study by a group including global business and finance leaders.

Turkey's state pipeline operator Botaş will cut supply to gas-fired power plants by 50 percent as of Jan. 6, due to increased household demand in cold weather, energy industry sources said on Jan. 5, in a bid to free up more gas for households.

Turkey's largest business organization has called on all stakeholders to achieve sustainable development goals in line with the United Nations' 2030 agenda. 

Mobile technologies have penetrated into our lives immensely. We have become so hooked on to our mobile phones that we cannot think about leaving home without our devices.  For many of us living in the more developed parts of the world, it is a social need more than anything, something like an addiction. But for the majority of the world's population, mobile technologies signify more.

Bulgarian lawmakers on Thursday agreed to procedural rules barring them from submitting bills that have no environmental impact assessment.

In case the draft legislation does not contain such assessment, it will not be sent to parliamentary committees and will therefore not make it further to Parliament's floor.

Turkey's G-20 presidency ended with the Antalya Summit last month, and the Chinese year has already begun with the release of the document "China G-20 2016: G-20 Summit 2016, China" that underlines its priorities for 2016. Looking back at the Turkish G-20 priorities document released approximately one year ago, one remembers the three "i's" - inclusiveness, implementation and investment.

A couple of days before the G-20 Summit in Antalya, I met with famous American economist Jeffrey Sachs in Istanbul. Professor Sachs, the director of the Earth Institute at the University of Columbia, has more than one hat.  

Turkey's first regulations on bicycle lanes and parking spots made the news last week. This raised more than a few eyebrows in a country where it's not uncommon to see parked cars on pavements leaving no room for pedestrians, or aggressive car traffic making its own rules.