ESMAP Tool Helps Turkish City Make Economic Growth Sustainable
The city of Gaziantep in southeastern Turkey is one of the fastest growing urban areas in the world. In recent years, the Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality (GMM) has taken a number of steps to tackle energy efficiency challenges and was a natural venue for one of the first global pilots of the Tool for Rapid Assessment of City Energy (TRACE) in 2011.
he city of Gaziantep in southeastern Turkey is one of the fastest growing urban areas in the world. An important trade link serving as Turkey’s gateway to the Middle East, the city has seen its population increase ten-fold to an estimated 1.35 million over the last 40 years. In recent years, the Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality (GMM) has taken a number of steps to tackle energy efficiency challenges and, as such, was a natural venue for one of the first global pilots of the tool for rapid assessment of city energy (TRACE) in 2011. TRACE was developed by the World Bank’s energy sector management assistance program (ESMAP) in 2010 as a means to help city planners target and prioritize energy efficiency interventions. The TRACE deployment in Gaziantep placed the city at the forefront of Turkey’s ambitious greening agenda and directly informed the creation of a sustainable cities investment program in the World Bank’s United States (U.S.) 4.4 billion dollars 2012-2015 country partnership strategy with Turkey.