GPI experts participated in the discussion of climate legislation in the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan

GPI experts participated in the discussion of climate legislation in the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan

An expert seminar “Improving climate legislation for carbon investment” was held in the Mazhilis of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The organizers were the REC “Zhasyl Academy” and the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Republic of Kazakhstan with the support of the OECD and the SIPA/IDDRI project (France).

During the two sessions of the Seminar, moderated by Bakhyt Yessekina and Yulia Yakupbaeva, expert proposals on updating the Environmental Code, integrating Kazakhstan’s carbon projects into international markets (VCM, art.6) and increasing the country’s potential in the field of carbon lending were discussed.

The leitmotif of the event in the speeches of experts was the topic of a shortage of investments for the decarbonization of the economy. According to GIZ calculations, 660 billion US dollars are needed to achieve carbon neutrality of the Kazakh economy by 2060, and 90 billion US dollars by 2030.

Following the discussion, Recommendations were adopted, including speeding up the adoption of a Roadmap for achieving carbon neutrality and considering the creation of an Agency for Climate Policy.

As Yulia Yakupbaeva, moderator of the second part of the seminar, Chairman of the Council for Sustainable Development and ESG of the Atameken National Chamber of Entrepreneurs, noted:
“One of the key measures to support the development of sustainable economy projects is incentives for the issuance of sustainable and green securities, as well as sustainable lending. In this regard, we consider it important to consider the possibility of resuming and expanding these measures.”

The participants also recommended working out incentives for companies in the real sector that generate ESG reporting and implement the principles of green taxonomy, review approaches to the national carbon trading system, etc. The recommendations will be sent to the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

In a hybrid format, the seminar brought together more than 80 representatives of government agencies, businesses and international organizations.