There are 39 municipality districts in Istanbul, each of which has its own governing structure; the municipalities are overseen by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM), which is run by the governing party. The IMM is responsible for the citys overall strategic and master plans and the approval body for the 39 districts budgets, while the district municipalities take care of municipal services. From an initial review, the Istanbul Metropolitan Strategic Plan (IMSP) for 20152019 seems quite good, and it includes environmental and social concerns with a vision of making Istanbul sustainable and livable . To be able to achieve this vision in the residential areas, the Metropolitan and district municipalities in Istanbul not only monitor the EPCs to provide building permits; rather, the IMM has also engaged Istanbul in several international initiatives to tackle the effects of climate change in the housing and many other sectors. For instance, the previous mayor was the presiden

9 of 18 Sustainability 2018, 10, 1421 of the Global Network of Cities, Local, and Regional Governments (UCLG), and convinced Istanbul to become a signatory member of the Compact of Mayors and the C40, a group of cities aiming for greater action on climate change. Due to these international commitments, the IMM has been preparing the Istanbul Climate Change Action Plan since 2016, with the vision of creating a Climate Friendly City . The plan also highlights the importance of energy efciency and green building standards in the residential areas of Istanbul for reducing GHG emissions and promoting energy savings. With respect to the district municipalities in Istanbul, there is evidence of more engagement with climate change and energy efciency in buildings, at least on the surface.

Several energy-efciency and green building audit companies, as well as international nancial institutions and national and international NGOs in Istanbul, are taking an active role in pursuing sustainable and low carbon actions in the housing sector. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Austrian Development Bank have provided energy-efciency loans, which are transferred through Turkish Banks . With this nancial mechanism, the international nancial institutions have entered the urban renewal process in Turkey and supported broadened energy efciency in residential buildings. The energy loans are only received if the product is purchased and approved by the member company of the Association of Heat, Water, Sound, and Fire Insulators (IZODER). Moreover, insulation materials are promoted as the most efcient way to achieve the minimum (C) energy standard, which has boosted the insulation material sector. The international green building certication schemes have

Globally known certication schemes, such as the BRE Environmental Assessment Method for housing (BREEAM), and especially, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), have become dominant in the Turkish market for green building certicates , and the numbers of certied buildings are increasing.