Healthy Air, Healthy Climate

Locals fish off an old ship loading pier in Sarıseki, Turkey, a short distance from a coal power plant. Heavy industry and coal power are among main factors driving increasingly poor air quality in the area, and due to its geography, pollution that collects in the bay lingers.

With a population of 1.5 million, Hatay is the border city of Turkey and Syria. Iskenderun, a major town in the city, acts as a port for the heavy industry and coal power plants. Similarly to Adana, steel-iron plants, heavy industry and an active coal power plant, Diler İskenderun coal power plant, with its 1200MW installed capacity, are the main drives of air pollution in Hatay.[1]

According to World Health Organisation (WHO) calculations, Hatay’s residents breathe hazardous levels of fine particulate matter, PM 2.5, that are 2.8 times higher than the WHO’s safe levels.[2] According to official air quality measurements, in 2015 both of the two stations in Hatay measured annual PM10 levels above of the WHO’s recommended levels. [3]

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