Last week, EMBARQ and the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality’s Directorate of the Environment hosted a “Scenario Development Workshop” addressing the city’s transport-related air pollution, including green house gas emissions. The event, held in downtown Istanbul, gathered a diverse group of stakeholders to discuss the future public health and environmental impacts of transport-related air pollution, as well as brainstorm solutions to this growing problem.

Attendees included EMBARQ Istanbul's partners BP and Shell, national and local policymakers, transportation planners and service providers, business leaders, and civil society. This diverse group reflected the systemic nature of the issue of transport emissions, and recognition of the fact that cleaning Istanbul's air will require the cooperation of a wide-range of stakeholders.

Two main topics were covered at the workshop. The first was local transport air pollution and its impact on the health of Istanbul residents. The second line of discussion revolved around the transportation sector’s growing contribution to global warming in the form of greenhouse gas emission (GHGs).

Watch Out for EMBARQ’s December Newsletter, where we will give a more complete synopsis of all of the workshop’s exciting outcomes.