Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in Turkey

An environmental impact assessment (EIA) in Turkey, known locally as ÇED (Çevresel Etki Değerlendirmesi), is the decision you must hold before a listed project can receive a building licence, an investment incentive or any other permit. For foreign investors and EPC contractors the practical questions are which annex your project falls under, how long the route takes and who signs the file. This page answers those questions under the rules in force in October 2026, including the March 2026 amendments.

What an environmental impact assessment in Turkey covers

An EIA in Turkey is the statutory review, run by the Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change and its provincial directorates, that identifies a project's likely effects on air, water, soil, ecology and local communities before it is built. It ends with a formal decision that the project may proceed, must prepare a full EIA report, or is rejected.

The legal basis is Article 10 of the Environment Law No. 2872 and the EIA Regulation (ÇED Yönetmeliği) published in the Official Gazette of 29 July 2022, No. 31907. That regulation was amended on 26 June 2025 (No. 32938) and again on 5 March 2026 (No. 33187). The Ministry's Circular 2026/4 explains how the March 2026 changes are applied in practice.

The consequence that matters most to investors is set out in Article 6 of the regulation. Until a positive EIA decision is issued, no incentive, approval, permit, building licence or occupancy licence can be granted for a listed project, and the investment cannot be started or put out to tender. Work started without a decision is stopped without a grace period.

When an EIA is required in Turkey

The need for an EIA depends on two lists annexed to the regulation. Annex I lists projects that always require a full EIA report. Annex II lists projects that go through a screening review based on a Project Introduction File (Proje Tanıtım Dosyası, PTD). Projects on neither list do not need an EIA decision, although a written opinion from the provincial directorate is often requested by other authorities.

The thresholds are set by capacity, area or throughput, and several were revised in March 2026. Land-based solar plants, for example, now fall under Annex I from 25 hectares and under Annex II from 7.5 hectares, with rooftop and façade systems excluded. Mining, ports, wind, waste recovery and some food sectors also saw changes, so a threshold you checked in 2024 may no longer be correct.

Capacity increases deserve attention. An extension to an existing plant is assessed on the resulting total capacity, so a modest expansion can push a facility from Annex II into Annex I. Projects that already held acquired rights before a sector was added to the lists may be treated as exempt (muaf), but that status must be documented.

Annex II screening and the ÇED Olumlu decision

Until 2025 an Annex II project usually ended with a decision called ÇED Gerekli Değildir, meaning "EIA not required". Law No. 7554, published in the Official Gazette of 24 July 2025, removed that wording from the Environment Law. Since the March 2026 amendment, a successful Annex II review ends with a ÇED Olumlu decision, the same name used for a positive Annex I decision. If the authority considers the impacts significant, it issues ÇED Raporu Hazırlanmalıdır and the project moves to the full EIA route.

The substance of the screening review did not change much. The PTD is prepared to the format in Annex IV of the regulation and submitted with a signed commitment letter and proof of the application fee. Most Annex II files are decided by the provincial directorate of the Ministry. Decisions issued as ÇED Gerekli Değildir before the change remain valid, which is useful to know when you review older permits in an acquisition.

The statutory periods are short. The authority checks the file within 5 working days, and if it does not need to consult other bodies it decides within 15 working days. Where other institutions are asked for written opinions, they have 30 calendar days to reply. Deficiency notices can be issued, and repeated failures to complete the file close the application.

The full EIA process step by step

Annex I projects, and Annex II projects that receive a ÇED Raporu Hazırlanmalıdır decision, follow the full process below. Statutory periods come from the regulation as amended in 2026. Realistic durations are our planning figures and depend on the sector and the site.

1. Pre-application review. We confirm the annex and threshold, check the site against protected areas, forest land, coastal zones and water basin protection zones, and plan baseline surveys. Allow 2 to 6 weeks.
2. EIA application file. An institution holding a Ministry competence certificate files the application through the Ministry's online EIA process system. The format check takes 5 working days.
3. Public participation meeting. Held in the project area, announced at least 10 calendar days in advance. More detail is given below.
4. Scoping and special format. The Review and Evaluation Commission (İnceleme ve Değerlendirme Komisyonu) gives its views on scope. The applicant pays the special format fee within 30 calendar days and the Ministry issues the project-specific format (özel format) within 7 working days of the payment.
5. Preparing the EIA report. The report must be submitted within one year of the special format, with one extension of up to 180 calendar days. Seasonal flora and fauna surveys, air dispersion and noise modelling, and hydrogeological studies happen here.
6. Commission review. After a format check, the commission meets, usually with a site visit. Members who do not respond within 30 calendar days are deemed to agree.
7. Final report and public display. The final EIA report is submitted within 10 calendar days of the last meeting and is opened to public comment for 10 calendar days.
8. Decision. The Ministry issues ÇED Olumlu or ÇED Olumsuz. The decision is published online and posted locally for 30 calendar days.

Public participation in the Turkish EIA

The public participation meeting (Halkın Katılımı Toplantısı) is the one point where local residents meet the project team face to face. The Ministry sets the date, the provincial directorate selects a venue close to the site, and the meeting is announced at least 10 calendar days in advance in a local newspaper and a national one. A representative of the provincial directorate chairs it, the project owner and the authorised institution present the project, and questions are recorded for the commission.

Since March 2026 the project owner, or an authorised representative, must attend. If the owner is absent the meeting is postponed once, and a second absence ends the process. For a foreign investor this means planning a Turkish-speaking representative with a valid power of attorney well ahead of the date.

Lenders should know that this single meeting does not meet the stakeholder engagement expectations of IFC Performance Standard 1 or EBRD ESR 10. If your project is financed by a development bank or an Equator Principles bank, a separate stakeholder engagement plan and grievance mechanism will be needed. We explain that gap on our environmental and social due diligence page.

Outcome decisions and what they commit you to

A ÇED Olumlu decision is not a blank cheque. The decision rests on the EIA report or PTD and on the commitment letter signed by the project owner, and every commitment in those documents becomes a legal obligation. Capacities, stack heights, treatment methods, water sources and monitoring promises are all checked later by inspectors and by the authority issuing your environmental permit.

The decision lapses if the investment does not start within five years, unless force majeure applies. After a positive decision on a full EIA, the owner submits project progress reports (proje ilerleme raporu) during construction at intervals set by the commission. A ÇED Olumsuz decision means the project cannot proceed in its submitted form. EIA decisions can be challenged before the administrative courts, and on contested sites local residents and associations often do so, which is worth reflecting in your financing timetable.

Who may prepare an EIA report in Turkey

Only institutions holding a competence certificate (Yeterlik Belgesi) from the Ministry may prepare and submit PTDs, EIA application files, EIA reports and progress reports. The certificate is governed by the EIA Competence Certificate Communiqué published on 31 December 2022 (No. 32060). Its application requirements were rewritten by an amendment published on 23 July 2026, which added professional chamber registration requirements for the team.

The certified institution signs the file and is responsible for its accuracy, together with the project owner. Specialist input, such as ecology surveys, hydrogeology, archaeology or traffic studies, comes from named experts. When you appoint any consultant, ask which certified institution will file and sign your documents, and see the certificate number in the proposal. We state this at proposal stage for every EIA we run.

What the EIA report contains

The general format in Annex III of the regulation sets the minimum structure, and the special format adds project-specific items. A typical Turkish EIA report includes the following.

• Project description, capacity, process flow, alternatives considered and the construction programme
• Baseline data on air quality, noise, surface water and groundwater, soil, geology, flora and fauna, land use and socio-economic conditions
• Impacts and mitigation for the construction and operation phases, with emission, dispersion and noise modelling where relevant
• Waste, wastewater and hazardous materials management, including chemicals subject to KKDIK and major accident rules
• Monitoring programme, emergency response and closure
• A non-technical summary in Turkish

Circular 2026/4 adds a sustainability section to the project-specific annexes, covering a zero waste plan, a traffic management plan, a greenhouse gas reduction plan and environmental and social management plans. The greenhouse gas part links naturally with a carbon footprint study if you also report emissions to your group or to lenders.

How a Turkey-based team runs the EIA for you

The EIA is conducted entirely in Turkish. Applications, commission meetings, deficiency letters and the public meeting all happen in Turkish and often at short notice. A team based in Turkey can attend a commission meeting in Ankara or a site visit in Anatolia the same week, and can speak to the provincial directorate officer who is reviewing your file.

We handle that side and report to you in English. In practice that means a short written status update at an agreed interval, English summaries of every commission comment and authority letter with our proposed response, an English executive summary of the PTD or EIA report, and a decision tracker listing each commitment the decision creates. Turkey is on UTC+3 all year, so calls with European offices fit comfortably into the working day.

For financed projects we structure the baseline work so that it also serves the lender's ESIA, which avoids paying for the same surveys twice. Our offices in İzmir, Ankara and Kocaeli cover the Aegean region, the capital and the Marmara industrial belt.

What we need from you to start

Most foreign investors apply through a Turkish subsidiary or project company, because the applicant needs a Turkish tax number and an authorised signatory for the commitment letter.

Cost and timeline drivers

We do not publish fixed prices because the effort varies widely. The main drivers are listed below.

• Annex I or Annex II route, and whether a screening review is likely to escalate
• Site sensitivity, such as proximity to protected areas, forests, wetlands, coasts or drinking water basins
• Need for seasonal ecological surveys, groundwater studies or archaeological opinions
• Modelling scope for air dispersion, noise and traffic
• Level of local opposition and the number of commission comment rounds
• Whether a lender-grade ESIA must be produced in parallel

Related services

After the EIA decision, most plants need a temporary activity certificate and an environmental permit before or soon after start-up, covered on our environmental permits in Turkey page. For a practical walk-through aimed at investors, read our guide to the EIA process in Turkey for foreign investors. If chemicals will be manufactured or imported, plan KKDIK registration early, as the EIA report refers to it.