The Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry signed the “Every Ticket is a Sapling, Our Love is Green Homeland Campaign”, a strategic environmental project. The signing ceremony, which was held with the participation of Abdulkadir Uraloğlu, Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, and İbrahim Yumaklı, Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, was an important step in Turkey’s determination to combat the climate crisis and achieve its environmental sustainability goals. Within the scope of this campaign, one sapling will be planted for each passenger travelling on Turkey’s High Speed Train (HSR) lines, and a massive afforestation campaign will be launched within a year.
13 Million Saplings Target and Scope of the Campaign
Speaking at the ceremony, Minister Uraloğlu stated that the main purpose of the project is to raise the environmental awareness of citizens and to ensure that they internalise the responsibility to protect forests. Explaining the details of the campaign, Uraloğlu shared the concrete goals of the implementation:
“We will plant a sapling on behalf of each passenger travelling on our High Speed Trains for 1 year between 11 November 2025 and 11 November 2026. Considering that an average of 13 million passengers travel on these lines annually, we will plant 13 million saplings.”
The campaign covers the country’s busiest HSR lines: Ankara-Istanbul, Ankara-Eskişehir, Ankara-Konya, Ankara-Karaman, İstanbul-Konya, İstanbul-Karaman, Eskişehir-İstanbul, Ankara-Sivas and Sivas-İstanbul.
Passenger Information Process:
An information process has also been designed to ensure transparency and encourage passenger participation. Minister Uraloğlu noted that passengers who have completed their journey will be informed the next day via SMS and e-mail:
SMS Content: It will be emphasised that the YHT journey contributes to the reduction of carbon emissions and that the use of e-tickets is an environmentally friendly choice.
Certificate Access: The link to access the certificate of the planted sapling will be sent to both SMS and registered e-mail addresses. In this way, every traveller will be able to see in a tangible way that their journey is part of the Green Homeland.
Environmental Sustainability Leadership in Transport
Minister Uraloğlu emphasised that the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure demonstrates its sensitivity to the protection of the environment and nature not only through rhetoric but also through actions. In this context, the Ministry plays a pioneering role in the field of environmental sustainability:
Carbon Footprint Calculation: The Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure has certified its leadership in environmental awareness by being the first Ministry in Turkey to carry out the Corporate Carbon Footprint calculation.
Net Zero Emission Roadmap: The Ministry has recently launched the “Turkey’s Net Zero Emission Roadmap for Transport” project, which is funded by the European Union within the framework of financial cooperation. The project aims to establish an effective framework to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to zero in land, sea, air and rail transport modes.
State Leadership in Afforestation Activities
Referring to the strong afforestation experience behind the campaign, Uraloğlu stated that the General Directorate of Highways (KGM) is the public organisation that plants the most trees after the General Directorate of Forestry (OGM). KGM has planted an annual average of 4.3 million saplings and trees in the last 10 years.
Underlining that the Ministry has planted 97 million saplings in the last 23 years, Uraloğlu also mentioned the indirect contributions of infrastructure investments to the environment:
Traffic Flow and CO2 Reduction: 6 .3 million tonnes less carbon dioxide is emitted annually thanks to the uninterrupted traffic flow ensured by increasing the length of divided roads from 6,101 kilometres to 30,000 kilometres.
the “Every Ticket is a Sapling” campaign is an exemplary project that promotes the use of low-emission transport vehicles such as high-speed trains, while at the same time actively involving passengers in the process of combating climate change and raising awareness of environmental and social responsibility.
