Who gains from saving nature
Ledger 1 : 33 — For each dollar financing nature-based solutions in 2023, about $33 financed activities harmful to nature. (UNEP)
Cases / Oil, gas and coal operations · Türkiye · 2021–2026

Turkish holdings' coal expansion alongside renewables (Cenal, Akbelen, İçdaş)

Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured. Disputed
What the record lacks: 1 none on record · 1 not measured · 1 disputed · 2 unclear See the gaps
Accounts of the harm differ
Whether the Akbelen expropriation and felling could proceed
  • Courts Council of State (Danıştay): Stayed the expropriation for about 194 of 679 parcels. Cumhuriyet
  • Company or project YK Enerji (Limak and İçtaş): Trees were cut in 2023 under gendarmerie protection after an earlier stay was lifted in 2022. No statement by the company is recorded. Yetkin Report

Several Turkish energy groups run coal or lignite plants and renewable projects under the same corporate roof. Reports from 2023 to 2026 describe a coal unit approval at Cenal, tree felling at Akbelen and loans to renewable arms of coal-owning groups.

1,050 MWAdded coal unit at Cenal accepted by the energy regulator
Accepted by EPDK subject to an environmental impact assessment (ÇED); licence to 2062.

Status As of 2026: EPDK has accepted the added Cenal unit subject to a ÇED; the Council of State has stayed part of the Akbelen expropriation; Amnesty has recorded an Akbelen conviction.

What?
Turkish energy groups with coal or lignite plants and renewable projects expanded coal capacity or coal mining areas, while receiving or advertising renewable financing. Bianet
Where?
Akbelen (Milas, Muğla) and the Cenal plant, Türkiye. Bianet
When?
2021 to 2026. Cumhuriyet
Who?
Gained
  • Limak and İçtaş (via YK Enerji) — Access to the Akbelen coal area Cumhuriyet
  • Enerjisa Üretim, Aydem Yenilenebilir, Fiba — EBRD lending EBRD
Lost
None on record
Harmed
  • Akbelen forest and olive groves — Trees cut in 2023; olive groves opened to mining by Law No. 7554 Yetkin Report
Why?
Not stated in the record beyond the company letter reported by Halk TV seeking funds for areas it could not expropriate because of olive legislation.
How?
Regulatory approval subject to ÇED, urgent expropriation, a change in olive legislation, and tree felling under gendarmerie protection. Bianet
6 of 6 questions answered from the record

What happened

The record, in order.

Research cited in the case record lists several Turkish energy groups that own both coal or lignite plants and renewable projects: Limak and IC İçtaş (Yeniköy–Kemerköy lignite and Erzin solar plants), Cengiz (the Cenal imported-coal plant, 1,320 MW, with 61% of the group's portfolio described as renewable), Enerjisa Üretim (Tufanbeyli lignite and about 2 GW of wind), and Aydem, Fiba, Kolin and Koç/Tüpraş. At İçdaş, the same legal entity is recorded as owner of a coal plant and as a winner of a YEKA renewable-energy competition.

In 2026 the press reported that the energy regulator EPDK had accepted a 1,050 MW additional unit at Cenal, subject to an ÇED, with a licence running to 2062. BirGün reported that the COP31 President is also the minister whose ministry runs the ÇED process for Cenal.

At Akbelen, YK Enerji, a partnership of Limak and İçtaş that owns coal plants, was reported to have begun cutting trees on 26 July 2023 to expand a coal area, with gendarmerie protection. A court had stayed execution in 2021 and that decision was lifted in 2022. Urgent expropriation was ordered for 679 parcels; the Council of State (Danıştay) stayed it for about 194 parcels.

On 19 July 2025 parliament adopted Law No. 7554, Article 11 of which opened olive groves to mining (vote 255 to 199). The article gives coordinates that, according to a letter reported by Halk TV, serve the Akbelen and İkizköy sites; in that letter the company asked the Privatisation Administration for extra funds for areas it could not expropriate because of olive legislation.

The EBRD lent USD 200 million to Enerjisa Üretim, and credit was also opened to Aydem Yenilenebilir and Fiba. In 2026 Amnesty recorded a conviction connected to Akbelen: a defender received a prison sentence of 2 years and 1 month.

  1. 2021A court stays execution of the Akbelen decision
  2. 2022The stay is lifted
  3. 2023Trees cut at Akbelen under gendarmerie protection (reported 26 July)
  4. 2025Law No. 7554, Article 11, opens olive groves to mining (19 July); EBRD USD 200m to Enerjisa Üretim
  5. 2026EPDK accepts a 1,050 MW added unit at Cenal subject to ÇED; Council of State stay on about 194 of 679 parcels; Amnesty records an Akbelen conviction

What was said

Claims, in the words of those who made them.

Where accounts differ

Each party's account, side by side, with its source. The record does not settle these points; it shows them.

Whether the Akbelen expropriation and felling could proceed
Courts
Council of State (Danıştay)

Stayed the expropriation for about 194 of 679 parcels.

Cumhuriyet
Company or project
YK Enerji (Limak and İçtaş)

Trees were cut in 2023 under gendarmerie protection after an earlier stay was lifted in 2022. No statement by the company is recorded.

Yetkin Report

How it looked

What was shown, beside what was recorded.

Shown

  • Renewable portfolios: Cengiz described as having 61% of its portfolio in renewables; Enerjisa Üretim as having about 2 GW of wind; Limak and IC İçtaş solar plants at Erzin.
    Companies, EBRD and GEM, as cited in the sources reviewed

Recorded

  • EPDK accepted a 1,050 MW additional unit at Cenal subject to a ÇED, licence to 2062.
    Bianet
  • Urgent expropriation covered 679 parcels at Akbelen; the Council of State stayed it for about 194.
    Cumhuriyet
  • The EBRD lent USD 200 million to Enerjisa Üretim and opened credit to Aydem Yenilenebilir and Fiba.
    EBRD

Who gained

Money that reached nature, beside money that stayed elsewhere.

Reached nature or the ground

Not published
No figure published.

Gained elsewhere

Not totalled
EBRD loan to Enerjisa Üretim$200m
Currency: USD · Window: 2025. All figures cover the same period. * Estimate built from cited figures.

In court and with insurers

Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

Lawsuits and rulings

  1. Ongoing
    Akbelen expropriation and valuation cases
    Council of State (Danıştay) · Administrative · Not stated in the record → Not stated in the record

    The Council of State stayed the expropriation for about 194 of 679 parcels; expropriation and valuation cases were reported halted until the Council of State decision is final. Cumhuriyet

  2. 2026Outcome not on record
    Prosecution of an Akbelen defender
    Not stated in the record · Criminal · State → An environmental defender

    Amnesty recorded a conviction in connection with Akbelen; the sources reviewed give a sentence of 2 years and 1 month. Amnesty International

Insurers

No insurer decision on record.

What nature saw

Outcomes measured on the ground, and nature's note.

Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.

Cenal added unit
1,050 MW
Accepted by EPDK subject to ÇED; licence to 2062
Akbelen parcels under urgent expropriation
679
Council of State stayed about 194

What we don't know

Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.
Case pending / contestedNo independent ecological evaluation

Nature

  • Not measured Harm to nature: No independent ecological evaluation is on record.
  • Disputed Whether the Akbelen expropriation and felling could proceed

Court

  • Unclear Prosecution of an Akbelen defender: outcome not on record.

Record

  • Unclear Whether the Cenal ÇED for the 1,050 MW unit has been concluded: not stated in the record.
  • None on record The date of the Council of State stay on the Akbelen parcels is not given in the record.

Did the harm stop?

No stop is recorded: the Cenal unit was accepted subject to an ÇED and the Akbelen expropriation stay covers only part of the parcels.

Who paid?

Not established in the record.

Sources

Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations— Communities and civil society— Researchers✓ International bodies

Press and investigations

International bodies

  2. Conviction in Akbelen
    Amnesty International · 2026

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Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
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