Emine Erdogan calls for changes in consumption habits to tackle climate crisis
Turkish First Lady Emine Erdogan, who chairs the UN High-Level Advisory Board on Zero Waste, has called for changes in consumption habits and stronger international cooperation to address the climate crisis.
Speaking at the opening of New York Climate Week on Monday, Erdogan said the Zero Waste movement had turned individuals from “helpless observers” into actors in tackling climate change.
She said small behavioural changes could develop into broader social practices when widely adopted and supported by sound policies.
Erdogan attended the event in New York alongside Family and Social Services Minister Mahinur Ozdemir Goktas. The Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Ministry and the Zero Waste Foundation were among the main sponsors.
She said climate change was a consequence of the burden human activity had placed on the planet, pointing to fossil fuels, industrial processes, high emissions and excessive consumption.
‘Rebuild our relationship with nature’
Erdogan said humanity had created a system based on short product lifespans and growing waste, citing estimates that 9.2 billion tonnes of plastic have been produced since the 1950s, with 7 billion tonnes becoming waste.
She said the environmental costs of high consumption were often borne by vulnerable societies and future generations that contributed least to it.
“We must therefore begin by reducing excess in our habits alongside our waste, changing our mindset alongside our systems, and rebuilding our relationship with nature on the principles of balance and justice,” she said.
Erdogan described Zero Waste as a moral approach that promotes limits and responsibility as consumption and waste become increasingly normalised.
She said the programme launched at the Turkish presidential complex in 2017 had since spread to schools, hospitals, municipalities, public institutions and households.
“Our recovery rate, which stood at 13 percent at the time, has now surpassed 37 percent,” she said.