Kazakhstan legislators stated at a meeting hosted by EURACTIV that Kazakhstan plans to closely integrate its revised carbon emissions trading plan with the European Union as part of its domestic green transformation plan.
Last year, Kazakhstan set an ambitious goal for itself, which is to reduce carbon emissions by 15% by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. Achieving these goals will mean expanding the share of renewable energy to 83% and phasing out the use of coal by 2050. These are the ambitious plans of the 14th largest carbon dioxide emitter in the world.
The government also plans to plant 2 billion trees on 500,000 hectares of land by 2025.
“We believe that this transformation must become an important engine for sustainable development. Kazakhstan and the European Union have agreed on our ambitious green goals, and we must cooperate on new green projects,” said Kazakhstan’s EU Ambassador Baimukhan Margulan at EURACTIV The group event on how the EU-Kazakhstan cooperation can help greening talked about the Kazakh economy and transportation.
Zulfiya Suleimenova, a member of the Foreign Affairs, Defense and Security Committee of the Kazakhstan Parliament, told the panel that the legislators have adopted “a very comprehensive set of mitigation measures.”
The Parliament of Kazakhstan passed a new environmental regulation that took effect in July, which incorporated its carbon neutral and emission reduction targets into the law, and included chapters on mitigation and adaptation to climate change.
The new legislation also identifies water resources, agriculture, forestry and human protection as the key to combating climate change.
It also launched the country’s first green bond and a carbon emissions trading program, which Suleimenova said will be more closely integrated with the EU’s ETS.
All speakers emphasized that the EU’s green agreement needs to be integrated with Kazakhstan’s own reform agenda.
“The most important thing is to adjust the goals and ensure that we truly cooperate in doing so. We need to adjust our actions according to the goals we want to achieve,” Suleimenova said.
Dimitris Dimitriadis, Chairman of the External Relations Department of the European Economic and Social Commission, added that the European Union is currently finalizing an international energy strategy and will start negotiations with Kazakhstan on its ETS after the strategy takes effect. .
He added that the European Union’s Green Agreement contains provisions on how the European Union can assist the Western Balkans, and these provisions also apply to Kazakhstan.
“We must encourage Kazakhstan to move closer to the EU,” he said.
Kazakhstan is the first Central Asia signatory of the “Energy Charter Treaty” Secretary-General Urban Rasnak said, “Kazakhstan knows from experience the importance of green transition.”
This communication should be a “two-way street” to avoid the negative impact of the carbon boundary adjustment mechanism.
However, there are concerns that Kazakhstan may be one of the main victims of the EU’s planned carbon border adjustment mechanism, which aims to put pressure on products entering the EU market.
“We are a carbon-intensive economy and we need to reduce emissions,” Suleimenova admits.
As a major exporter of metals and a transportation hub, this Central Asian country may be severely affected. Kazakhstan ministers, together with other countries, urge the EU to take their specific circumstances into consideration when formulating a taxation framework.
“The most important thing is that any decarbonization effort will be rewarded,” said Helen Gonnard of the European Union’s External Action Service, speaking of concerns about the implementation of a carbon tax, adding, “There is no doubt that , Every country will have tailor-made solutions.”
At the same time, Rasnak described the CBAM situation as part of the “extraterritorial effect of EU legislation.”
“Kazakhstan should consider enacting similar measures at home to avoid taxation at the EU border,” he said.
Sulemenova believes that legislators in the EU and Kazakhstan “need to consider different starting points,” but emphasized that the government is eager to align its emissions trading system with that of the EU. Currently, ETS covers 46% of Kazakhstan’s energy production and eight sectors.
“We need the support and closer cooperation with European partners. This is an area where we can build closer relationships,” the lawmaker added.
[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]
