Carbon Handprint Took Center Stage at the Carbon-Neutral Summit
The Sustainable Production and Consumption Association (SÜT-D), with the main support of the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change and Istanbul Technical University, held the 11th Istanbul Carbon Summit with strong stakeholder participation.
The summit brought the concepts of carbon footprint and carbon handprint to the forefront. While carbon footprint refers to emissions that contribute to climate change, carbon handprint represents positive contributions and solution-oriented practices that reduce this impact.
Prof. Dr. Filiz Karaosmanoğlu, faculty member at ITU and President of SÜT-D, stated that the summit was carried out as a carbon-neutral event with the support of ST Climate and in line with the requirements of Türkiye’s first and only ISO 20121 Sustainable Event Management System certificate.
Karaosmanoğlu emphasized the importance of carbon handprint with the following statement:
“Our strength in stopping this course in the fight against climate change lies in increasing the Carbon Handprint across life cycle management, in production, consumption, and service processes. Carbon Handprint means reducing greenhouse gas emissions with the support of climate technologies by creating positive impact and benefit.”
Strategic Outputs Ahead of COP31
The summit was opened by ITU Rector Prof. Dr. Hasan Mandal and Director General of Environmental Management Fatih Turan. As part of the event, the exhibition area was also visited, where sustainability and climate technology-focused works were reviewed.
Prof. Dr. Karaosmanoğlu noted that the summit outputs hold a significant position ahead of COP31, the 31st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which will be held in November 2026. She also announced that work had begun on the Summit Final Report and Presentation E-Book.
Little Carbon Heroes Recognized
The summit also highlighted children’s contributions to climate awareness.
SÜT-D selected Beşiktaş Science and Art Center (BİLSEM) as this year’s partner school. Students from the İpsiz Karbon Team designed puppets from separately collected waste at their school and used them to creatively express the planet’s call for action against the climate crisis.
The team received the SÜT-D 2026 Little Carbon Hero Award. The award was presented by ITU Vice Rector Prof. Dr. İpek Akın Karadayı, Director General of Environmental Management Fatih Turan, and Public Oversight, Accounting and Auditing Standards Authority President Dr. Hasan Özçelik.
19 Achievements Named Low Carbon Heroes
SÜT-D honored individuals and institutions that successfully implement carbon management in sustainable production, consumption, and service processes with the Low Carbon Heroes awards.
Prof. Dr. Karaosmanoğlu stated that this year’s applications broke a record and that 19 achievements were recognized during the ceremony. The awards were presented by ITU Rector Prof. Dr. Hasan Mandal.
This year’s SÜT-D 2026 Low Carbon Heroes were announced as follows:
AKSA Doğalgaz – The Power Alliance of Natural Gas and Biomethane
AKSA Jeneratör – Climate-Friendly Energy Solutions with GreenTech
DANONE Türkiye – Sustainable Farm
ENDA Enerji – Managing Our Water, Reducing Our Carbon
ETİ Bakır – Integrated Sustainability Model
HALKBANK – Investing in the Future with Energy Efficiency
İMMİB – SEE BRIDGE Project
İNCİ Akü – Every Battery Is a Seed
İSTAÇ – Stronger with the Sun
KADOOĞLU Yağ – The Sun Hidden in Sunflower, a Friend to Our Climate
Kartal Municipality – Trees Open Books
Kocaeli Chamber of Industry – Sustainable Performance Leaders of Industry
Neşe Yenice – SÜT-D Selection
Shell & Turcas Petrol – We Touch the Future, Not the Soil
SOCAR Türkiye R&D and Innovation – TRACE: From Analysis to Process, Less Energy, Lower Carbon
TKYB – Nature-Positive, Low-Carbon on the Path to Sustainable Finance
TSKB – Türkiye Green Fund for Green Transformation
VakıfBank – Data, Validation, Efficiency, Carbon Reduction
Vakıf Katılım Bankası – The Power of Our Energy Dedicated to the Future Lies in Values and the Sun
