Eren Holding is a conglomerate headquartered in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

, Turkey. It has business interests in paper, packaging, cement, energy, retail and textiles. The holding company was established in 1997, although the history of the group dates back to 1969. Eren Holding's chairman is Ahmet Eren. The group employs 14,000 people. In 2022 Eren Enerji generated 5% of the country's electricity, second to

EÜAŞ The Electricity Generation Company (; EÜAŞ) is the largest electric power company in Turkey. Owned by the government, it produces and trades Electricity sector in Turkey, electricity throughout the country. History EÜAŞ was founded by the go ...

at 15%. Due to its coal-fired power stations subsidiary Eren Enerji and its cement production it is one of the largest private sector greenhouse gas emitters in Turkey.

History

Eren was established by four brothers from

Bitlis Bitlis ( or ; ) is a city in southeastern Turkey. It is the seat of Bitlis District and Bitlis Province.Bodrum Bodrum () is a town and district of Muğla Province, Turkey. About 200 thousand people live in the district, which covers 650 km2 and includes the town. It is a port town at the entrance to the Gulf of Gökova. Known in ancient times as Hal ...

, marking the company's entry into the

tourism industry Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

. In 2007, Eren Enerji started construction of a 1360 MW coal-fired power plant in

Zonguldak Zonguldak () is a List of cities in Turkey, city of about 100 thousand people in the Black Sea region of Turkey. It is the seat of Zonguldak Province and Zonguldak District.biomass Biomass is a term used in several contexts: in the context of ecology it means living organisms, and in the context of bioenergy it means matter from recently living (but now dead) organisms. In the latter context, there are variations in how ...

power plant started operating. In 2015, Modern Enerji established the first solid waste incineration facility in Turkey. Also in 2015, Modern Karton completed construction of a new paper factory. In the late 2010s, Eren Holding’s power plants generated 7.5% of Turkey’s electricity. In 2019, Eren Enerji Elektrik Üretim A.Ş received a silver award in the industry and energy category of the Green World Awards. That was criticized by environmental organizations as

greenwashing Greenwashing (a compound word modeled on "whitewash"), also called green sheen, is a form of advertising or marketing spin that deceptively uses green PR and green marketing to persuade the public that an organization's products, goals, or ...

Operations

Eren Holding controls businesses across several sectors, including energy, paper, cement, retail, ports, packaging and textiles. It owns ports in

Zonguldak Zonguldak () is a List of cities in Turkey, city of about 100 thousand people in the Black Sea region of Turkey. It is the seat of Zonguldak Province and Zonguldak District.corrugated fiberboard Corrugated fiberboard, corrugated cardboard, or corrugated is a type of packaging material consisting of a fluted corrugated sheet and one or two flat linerboards. It is made on "flute lamination machines" or "corrugators" and is used for maki ...

. Eren owns Turkey's biggest cement factory—Medcem Çimento—in

Mersin Mersin () is a large city and port on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast of Mediterranean Region, Turkey, southern Turkey. It is the provincial capital of the Mersin Province (formerly İçel). It is made up of four district governorates ...

. As local demand collapsed in 2019, the factory concentrates on exports. ErenTekstil A.Ş. manufactures cotton textiles. Eren Perakende represents a number of international brands in Turkey, including

Lacoste Lacoste S.A. (; ) is a French designer sports fashion company, founded in 1933 by tennis player René Lacoste, and entrepreneur André Gillier. It sells clothing, footwear, sportswear, eyewear, leather goods, perfume, towels and watches. The ...

, Burberry, GANT, Nautica and Converse. In addition to its physical stores, it sells online through Occasion, Sanal Çadır, SuperStep and FashFed e-commerce sites. Eren Holding's subsidiary Eren Enerji owns the coal-fired ZETES power stations. Another energy subsidiary, Modern Energy, owns a solid waste incineration facility and natural gas-fired and biomass-fired power plants in

Çorlu Çorlu () is a municipality and district of Tekirdağ Province, northwestern Turkey. Its area is 531 km2, and its population is 300,296 (2024). It is a rapidly growing industrial center built on flatland located on the motorway Otoyol 3 and ...

Greenhouse gas emissions

Due to its

coal-fired power stations A coal-fired power station or coal power plant is a thermal power station which burns coal to generate electricity. Worldwide there are about 2,500 coal-fired power stations, on average Nameplate capacity, capable of generating a gigawatts, ...

, coal-fired steam boiler and cement factory in

Silifke Silifke is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of Mersin Province, Mersin Province, Turkey. Its area is 2,692 km2, and its population is 132,665 (2022). It is west of the city of Mersin, on the west end of the Çukurova plain. ...

, Eren is one of the largest private sector greenhouse gas emitters in Turkey. As the largest private sector owner of coal-fired electricity generating capacity in Turkey the company is on the

Urgewald Urgewald is a group that researches coal companies, because they are among the top contributors to greenhouse gas emissions and so cause climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase i ...

Global Coal Exit List, and is one of the largest greenhouse gas emitters in the country: however although corporate emissions measurements are reported to the government they are not published.

Climate Trace Climate TRACE (Tracking Real-Time Atmospheric Carbon Emissions) is an independent group which monitors and publishes greenhouse gas emissions. It launched in 2021 before COP26, and improves monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) of both ...

estimates Eren Energy’s coal-fired power plants emitted 16 million tons, over 2%, of the country’s greenhouse gas in 2023. Medcem Cement Group was estimated to emit over 1 million tonnes in 2023.

References

Sources

External links

{{Portal, Turkey, Companies
"Eren Enerji" article

Global Energy Monitor Global Energy Monitor (GEM) is a San Francisco–based non-governmental organization which catalogs fossil fuel and renewable energy projects worldwide. GEM shares information in support of clean energy and its data and reports on energy trend ...

Conglomerate companies of Turkey Holding companies of Turkey Companies based in Istanbul Energy companies established in 1969 Coal companies of Turkey Electric power companies of Turkey Turkish companies established in 1969 Holding companies established in 1969