Turkey’s environment ministry has been urged to not approve the planned addition of two more units at a coal power plant in a polluted area that has historically been subject to warnings from health officials of a cancer explosion.

Presenting a study, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has appealed to officials to think again when it comes to Afsin-Elbistan coal power plant A in southeastern Kahramanmaras province in view of the serious harm the facility has already caused the surrounding community.

HRW research found that air pollution levels near plant A—and the later built plant B located two kilometres away—were dangerously high and that residents were experiencing health conditions that academic studies have attributed to toxic air.

Residents living near the coal plants were reported  by HRW as saying that friends, family and neighbours had died from cancer and cardiovascular or respiratory ailments they believed were attributable to, or exacerbated by, the pollution from the nearby plants.

A 57-year-old man in a village about 500 metres from coal plant A was cited as saying that he has had respiratory illness for the past 13 years: “I have asthma, and my doctor says I need clean air. But there is no clean air. We are all ill here,” he said.

The coal mine feeding the power plants in Afsin-Elbistan is a so-called carbon bomb. It is one of the world’s largest fossil fuel production projects with a coal extraction capacity of 4.09 gigatons of carbon dioxide. Expanding the coal plant threatens Turkey’s energy transition and jeopardises Turkey’s obligations under the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, said HRW.

Despite the cancer explosion warning, the government subsequently failed to monitor and reduce harm with more stringent regulations and enforcement, the rights NGO said.

“Toxic air from coal power plants is killing thousands of people every year in Türkiye while authorities do little to prevent the problem or even to warn people of the harm to their health,” said Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at HRW. “Instead of authorizing the expansion of polluting coal power plants, the Turkish government should strengthen and enforce air quality standards and enable a just transition from coal to renewables by 2030.”

The government is moving ahead with the expansion of coal plants notwithstanding significant progress in Turkey’s renewable energy sources that research has forecast will would enable the country to exit coal by 2030. 

Turkey became Europe’s largest coal-fired electricity producer in early 2024 and accounts for 73% of planned but not-yet-constructed coal projects within the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the EU that are actively seeking necessary approvals and financing. Based on World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates, more than 35,000 people in Turkey died from air pollution in 2019.

Renewable energy sources currently make up 54% of Turkey’s installed electricity capacity. That’s significantly above the global average of around 30%, and the International Energy Agency (IEA) projects renewable energy use will increase by 50% between 2021 and 2026.

In May, HRW interviewed 28 residents about their experiences of air pollution in Afsin-Elbistan. It also reviewed and analysed recent air quality data from the closest governmental monitoring station whose data is publicly available, satellite data showing air pollution from the EU Copernicus programme and official government documents.

HRW said it also wrote letters to the relevant seven divisions at the health ministry and the parent company of the firm operating the coal plant, which has applied for the additional units; as well as to the state-owned electricity generation company; and to local government authorities and to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK, or TurkStat) requesting health data related to Afsin and Elbistan districts. Not one of the entities has responded, it said.