June 20, 2025

A cooperation protocol was signed between the Council of Higher Education (CoHE) and Zero Waste Foundation. In his speech at the signing ceremony held at Marmara University, Erol Özvar, President of the Council of Higher Education, stated that sustainability, environmental awareness and zero waste understanding are among the strategic priorities of the Turkish higher education system and said, “We want our universities to take a leading role not only with their academic achievements but also with their environmental awareness.”

Emphasizing that the Zero Waste Project, launched under the auspices of Emine Erdoğan in 2017, is an important milestone in Türkiye's sustainability efforts, Özvar said, “The process carried out with this project has been globally recognized as a pioneering model that spreads social awareness and sensitivity about the environment.”

Özvar underlined that 60 million tons of waste was recycled, around 500 million trees were prevented from being cut down, 6 million tons of carbon emissions were prevented and an economic gain of 185 billion liras was achieved thanks to the Zero Waste Project and said, “Today, zero waste practices have been activated in more than 400 thousand public buildings and more than 22 million citizens have been trained on this issue.”

Noting that the project has also gained great appreciation at the UN, Özvar continued as follows: "This valuable process, which was initiated under the auspices of Her Excellency, has become a source of inspiration not only for Türkiye but also for the common future of the whole world. The Council of Higher Education and Turkish universities will work with determination to contribute to this process as they have done so far."

Özvar stated that the cooperation between the higher education community and civil society in the protocol signed with the Zero Waste Foundation aims to institutionalize the zero waste culture at universities, to establish environmentally conscious student clubs, to disseminate zero waste-themed academic activities and to reward successful practices. He pointed out the importance of signing such a meaningful cooperation at a time when global problems such as climate change, depletion of natural resources, environmental destruction and humanitarian crises are increasing. He explained the Council has implemented many projects, especially the Sustainable and Climate-Friendly Campus Project. He stated that they opened new undergraduate and graduate programs in fields such as combating climate change, environment and resource management, green economy, circular economy, sustainable agriculture and food systems.

Özvar emphasized that the Global Sustainable Development Congress, organized in Istanbul for the first time in Türkiye in cooperation with Times Higher Education (THE), is extremely valuable in terms of sharing with the world public the policies and successful practices carried out by the Turkish higher education system on the basis of sustainability and environmental responsibility. Stating that the achievements in the field of sustainability are clearly seen in international rankings, Özvar noted that the results of THE Impact Rankings are a concrete reflection of this success.

Emphasizing the success of Turkish universities in the 2026 World's Best Universities Ranking announced by QS, an international higher education rating agency, Özvar pointed out that 26 universities from Türkiye took part in the ranking, four universities entered the top 400 and six universities entered the top 500.

In his speech, Samed Ağırbaş, President of the Zero Waste Foundation, stated that the protocol signed with the Council of Higher Education is an important step that will carry forward the works on sustainability and zero waste.

The protocol aims to increase environmental awareness in higher education institutions, popularize zero waste culture in line with sustainability principles, encourage zero waste practices in universities and develop academic cooperation in this field.