Analysis of the Effect of Environmental Taxes on Climate Change Mitigation in Türki̇ye by KRLS Technique

Climate change mitigation policies involve a combination of strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. These strategies include transitioning to renewable energy sources, implementing taxation policies to discourage carbon-intensive activities, and enhancing energy efficiency across various sectors. In this study, an analysis covering the period between 1988 and 2022 was conducted to evaluate Türkiye's climate change mitigation policies. In this analysis, kernel based least squares, which is a machine learning method, and quantile regression techniques were used for estimation. It is concluded that environmental taxes, one of the variables in the model, reduce carbon emissions in line with the literature. Renewable energy is also a useful tool for reducing carbon emissions. The other variables, energy efficiency and per capita energy use, are found to increase carbon emissions. In the literature, the idea of using environmental tax revenues for energy efficiency investments is often emphasized. However, the results of energy efficiency in Türkiye are contrary to expectations. This means that climate change mitigation and adaptation policies will not have the same results in all countries and these policies should be determined according to local conditions. While determining climate change policies in Türkiye, alternative policies related to energy consumption should be discussed due to the negative effects of energy efficiency and per capita energy use.