Coal in Turkey

Coal supplies a quarter of Turkey's primary energy, and the country is one of the largest consumers in the world. The heavily subsidised coal industry generates over a third of the country's electricity and emits a third of Turkey's greenhouse gases.

Coal is a major contributor to air pollution, and damages health across the nation, being burnt even in homes and cities. Most coal is burnt in power stations, and it is estimated that a phase out of coal power in Turkey by 2030 instead of by the 2050s would save over 100 thousand lives. Flue gas emission limits are in place, but data from mandatory reporting is not made public.

Over 90% of coal mined in Turkey is lignite (brown coal), which is more polluting than other types of coal. Turkey's energy policy encourages mining lignite for coal-fired power stations in order to reduce gas imports; and coal supplies over 40% of domestic energy production. Coal burning peaked in 2018, and mining in 2022 at about 100 million tonnes. Most coal is imported, as in contrast to local lignite production, Turkey imports most of its bituminous coal from Russia. The largest coalfield in Turkey is Elbistan. Turkey is bidding to host the 2026 United Nations Climate Change Conference, in which getting agreement on coal phase-out will be very important.