The opening meeting of the project "Improving Adaptation Capacity of Vulnerable Industrial Sectors to Climate Change through Risk Assessment (ClimaTech 4 Industry)", funded by the European Union and the Republic of Turkey under the Climate Change Adaptation Grant Scheme, coordinated by Istanbul Chamber of Industry and implemented in partnership with TÜBİTAK MAM, was held at the Odakule building of Istanbul Chamber of Industry.

The opening speeches of the meeting were delivered by Sultan Tepe, Treasurer of ISO Board of Directors and Chairman of the Sustainability Platform, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Abit Balın, Strategy and Business Development Director of TÜBİTAK MAM, and Orhan Solak, Vice President of the Climate Change Directorate of the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change.

In his opening speech, Sultan Tepe, Treasurer of the ISO Board of Directors and Chairman of the Sustainability Platform, said: "As well as doing what is necessary to pollute the world less, the issue of how the industry will adapt to the existing conditions in order to sustain itself is of great importance. The issue of how the industrial sector will adapt to new changes needs to be addressed in detail."

Strategy and Business Development Director Assoc. Prof. Dr. Abit Balın pointed out that climate change is a multifaceted problem and said, "Climate change is one of the most important problems we face today and its effects are getting more serious every day. Climate change has profound impacts not only on the environment but also on economic, social and health issues, and all sectors need to cooperate with each other to combat these problems. Industry plays a particularly important role in this process. The measures taken by the industry on issues such as the production process, consumption of natural resources and waste management will be decisive in this process."

Stating that we are going through a period when the rules of international trade are being rewritten, Orhan Solak, Vice President of the Climate Change Presidency of the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, said: "The effects of climate change will be much more intense in the medium and long term. We are facing a multidimensional problem such as food crisis, natural disasters, climate migration, disruptions in the supply chain. Therefore, green transformation needs to be implemented in all sectors. Green transformation is not limited to protecting the environment. It also brings opportunities such as green employment or new global financing. In this sense, climate change and green transformation have both a security dimension and a development dimension. The more countries and sectors take a leading role in this process, the more they will increase their added value."

Following the opening speeches, ClimaTech4 Industry Project Presentation, which aims to assess the expected sectoral impacts and socio-economic risks of climate change and improve the adaptive capacity of manufacturing sectors by identifying adaptation options, was made by Özge Güven on behalf of Istanbul Chamber of Industry and Ece Gizem Çakmak, Lead Researcher on behalf of TÜBİTAK MAM.