CEVDET ALEMDAR, President, Sabanci Holding Mobility Solutions SBU
How long has humanity existed in the total time life has been on Earth? Billions of years, thousands. These numbers can be confusing, so let’s try to understand the scale with an analogy. Imagine the duration of life on Earth as a line stretching from Taksim Square in Istanbul to Kizilay Square in Ankara. This line would represent about 3.7 billion years. Humanity’s existence within this span is just 23 meters long. Now, when we walk 23 meters from Taksim Square, we reach a point where humanity ends. The remaining distance to Kizilay represents the time on Earth without humanity.
Today, the Earth is 1.2°C warmer than it was 150 years ago. This seemingly small increase has significant implications for our planet’s ecosystems and weather patterns. Of this, 1.07°C is attributed to human activity, primarily the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation.
If things continue this way, humanity will be riding for a fall. The planet, however, won’t care much. It will continue to orbit as it has for the last 5 billion years.
As for humanity?
We seem to be beginning to grasp the seriousness of the situation. If things continue as they are, global warming will reach 3°C in the next 50 years. At that point, life will no longer be possible in its current form and scale. This means more frequent and severe heatwaves, droughts, and storms, rising sea levels, and the loss of many plant and animal species.
In an effort to prevent this, nations have united, and everyone said, “I’ve made a plan to reduce greenhouse gases that warm the world.” These plans, called Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), are non-binding and can be changed anytime. Türkiye also made its contribution. We said we would reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 41% by 2030 compared to what would happen if things stayed normal.
It is like having a little say in the pot. But how much of the whole pot do we represent? Our country currently emits 1% of global greenhouse gases. North America and the European Union emit around 20%, and China emits 24%.
We cannot afford to adopt a ‘let others save humanity’ attitude. Imagine you’re on a boat in the middle of the sea, and water is pouring in from multiple holes. While everyone is trying to close a hole, you don’t say, ‘My hole is small; let those who made the bigger holes fix them first.’ The sea doesn’t care if the boat sinks or not. The ones who should care are the people on the boat who need to support each other.
The boat analogy ends here. As you know, analogies are like a bow and arrow. If you pull too little, the arrow won’t reach its target; if you pull too much, the bow breaks. The point is that this is a matter for humanity. And the ones who will be most affected are not polluting the most.
Would you look at this graph from the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC report), which includes the contributions of thousands of scientists from 195 countries? This graph shows which populations will be most heavily impacted by the climate crisis, based on factors such as geographical location, economic status, and vulnerability to extreme weather events.
The amount of people who will be affected in the wealthiest regions of the world, which also happen to be the largest emitters of greenhouse gases—North America and Europe—are shown as a small line on the graph. In contrast, other regions have larger columns.
It’s an undeniable injustice, a stark reality that we must confront. But we shouldn’t assume the planet cares about fairness. Its job is to keep moving. The climate crisis is not a planetary but a human issue. Humanity must work for a solution.
