Türkiye sets the operating rules for its carbon market, to be run by energy exchange EPIAS

The regulation on operating the Türkiye Emissions Trading System market, prepared by the Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EPDK), was published in the Official Gazette (Resmî Gazete) on 21 October 2026, issue 33407, and took effect the same day. According to a report in the business daily Dünya on the same day, the regulation sets out how emission allowances are sold, traded and recorded.

• The market will be run by Energy Markets Operation Inc. (EPIAS): a primary market where allowances are first sold, a secondary market for trading between companies, and a Transaction Registry System (IKS) that tracks how allowances are created, transferred and surrendered.
• According to a summary by the legal news site Hukukcular Evi, operators covered by the ETS must open an IKS account; the spot market will trade at least four business days a month between 10:00 and 15:00.
• Bids are made in lots: one lot equals 100 allowances, and each allowance represents 1 tonne of CO2 equivalent.
• The system covers facilities emitting more than 50,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent a year. Pilot sectors are power generation, cement, iron and steel, aluminium and fertiliser.

According to Dünya, the pilot covers system years 2026 and 2027: companies report for 2026, and the obligation to surrender allowances is expected to apply first to 2027 emissions. Until the registry and the primary and spot markets open, transactions can run in a virtual environment that creates no obligation to deliver actual allowances, invoice or pay. The main ETS regulation that defines the scope was published on 27 August 2026.

Why it matters

According to the report, two factors will decide the size of the bill: how many allowances companies receive at no charge and the carbon price the market produces, so the real cost is not yet clear. Dünya also notes that setting up a domestic carbon market does not on its own end obligations linked to the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), and that this needs separate assessment. Covered facilities would do well to name the people and internal processes responsible for the registry account, verified emissions reports and allowance tracking now. For suppliers outside the scope, keeping emissions data in order could also make it easier to answer data requests from large customers.

For an example of site-level emissions calculation, see our carbon footprint project.