Amid growing concerns about its existing air pollution problem, Turkish authorities have approved the expansion of one of Türkiye’s biggest coal power plants. The decision to greenlight two additional new units at Afşin-Elbistan plant A, in southeastern Türkiye, comes despite local community concerns the expansion will exacerbate the already dangerous health impacts of the plant.
Human Rights Watch’s analysis of air pollution levels in Elbistan shows that the coal plant already poses significant threats to people’s health. Between January 2021 and June 2024, the average concentration in the area of pollutant PM2.5 (very small particles that can penetrate deep into the lungs and enter the bloodstream) was more than five times the annual recommended level by the World Health Organization and almost three times the proposed 2030 EU standards. Satellite data from the Copernicus Sentinel-5P mission shows that the average concentration of harmful sulfur dioxide (SO2) was significantly higher over the villages surrounding the plant than over the closest air quality monitoring station in Elbistan, 22 km away from the coal plant.
People living in the vicinity of the coal plants in Elbistan described a myriad of health problems that academic studies have attributed to toxic air: respiratory ailments, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and allergies. Human Rights Watch repeatedly asked the authorities about the potential aggravating risks of the expansion of the coal plant, given the existing health issues caused by both air pollution in the region and the climate crisis, but received no answers from any government agency.
While local community members in Elbistan and environmental groups in Türkiye prepare to file a lawsuit against the Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change’s approval of the expansion, it is clear that decisions like this undermine Türkiye’s attempts at proving its climate credentials.
Türkiye announced a long-term climate strategy at the United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP28, in Baku in November 2024 which focused on increasing its renewable energy capacity. Yet the strategy notably failed to commit to a fossil fuel phase out. The approval to expand the coal power plant in Elbistan calls into question Türkiye’s energy transformation future and also its credibility as a candidate to hostN climate talks in 2026.
Türkiye should address air pollution as part of its constitutional and international legal obligations to realize the human rights to health, life, and a healthy environment, and in particular Türkiye should halt the expansion of all coal plants in line with those obligations.
