Green Urban Community Begins Its Work

The first meeting of the Green Urban Community took place online, allowing community members to get acquainted and discuss the strategic direction of the platform’s development.

Opening the meeting, which was attended by representatives of 24 member companies, Yulia Yakupbayeva, Chair of the Green Urban Community and Partner at the GPI Group of Companies, noted:

“Today we are embarking on a major undertaking. Together we have created a committee on urbanism, territorial development, and the elaboration of green standards within the framework of the National ESG Club. You all represent companies that promote sustainable development in your respective fields. But our collaboration will deliver an even greater effect — both in advancing quality of life as a whole and for each individual company — through the creation of joint projects and initiatives within the Green Urban ecosystem.”

The Green Urban Community’s main areas of work are:

• Sustainable cities and urbanism
• Urban health
• Circular economy and smart city
• Green school
• Sustainable tourism
• Standards development
• Certification
• Green construction
• Education
• Support for impact projects

Participants in the meeting expressed a strong need for a platform to advance ideas for sustainable development of the urban environment, and offered their own suggestions for developing the community:

“We need to organize industry events dedicated to the ESG agenda and sustainable practices in urban planning and territorial development, involving experts and collaborating with Green Urban members on joint research and development,” noted Dana Shukirbayeva, head of the ESG KZ consulting bureau.

“I propose involving students from the Enactus KAZGUU team in our group’s projects to enhance youth education and build a bridge between students and business. This would help with the joint implementation of projects,” noted Daurzhan Augambay, founder of The Ecolomist magazine.

“We need practice-oriented educational programs in partnership with business and universities to train teams for projects on the development of urban environments and tourist areas,” noted Anna Nosova, founder of the PROSTOR agency.

The work should also be supplemented with systematic efforts on urban green spaces, since this directly affects residents’ quality of life. As part of the Green Urban initiative, we should organize a livestream on green spaces in cities, — noted Alikhan Mukhametkaliyev, president of the public environmental fund “Nature First.”

The community today brings together 26 companies from the sectors of real estate management, urbanism, healthcare, building materials manufacturing, territorial development, IT, tourism, waste management, and others.

We have been supported by Mediker, Ecoton+, ESG.kz, Kazwaste, Target Al, Ecopolis Corporation, the Center for Urban Tourism Development, the Eurasian Tourism Association, Astron Group, AST Service Management, and others.

We look forward to everyone interested in the development of the urban environment — join the Green Urban community!