Kazakhstan Becoming A Regional Center For Renewable Energy

PM Alikhan Smailov presented, at the Global Climate Change Conference in Egypt, Kazakhstan’s current low carbon development strategy, as well as its goal for carbon neutrality by 2060. “For the first time in Central Asia”, he stressed, “a country is adopting such an ambitious plan”  

 Kazakhstan has set ambitious goals to become a regional leader in green energy. The country targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 15% until 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. Future projects are designed to produce a significant amount of green hydrogen, which will be supplied to the European market. The Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, Alikhan Smailov, introduced the country’s green strategy at the Global Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Egypt last week.

During the conference, Kazakhstan and the European Union signed a special memorandum on renewable energy development. Moreover, the Kazakh delegation and “Fortescue Future Industries” signed on November 8^th a framework agreement on the implementation of green hydrogen production projects in several regions of the country. By introducing such technologies, Kazakhstan could become one of the world’s largest suppliers of this fuel within 5-7 years.

Prime Minister Smailov noted Kazakhstan’s unwavering commitment to the objectives of the Paris Climate Agreement. “Our country has set an ambitious goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2060. As part of this, we plan to adopt a Low Carbon Development Strategy by the end of the year. This will be a historic moment: for the first time in Central Asia, a country is adopting such an ambitious document,” Alikhan Smailov said.

“Kazakhstan has the potential to become one of the world’s green energy centers”, The PM added. “Therefore, we are ready to act as a regional center for the development of renewable energy sources and stimulate the transition of Central Asia to green technologies,”.

Andrew Forrest, the CEO of Fortescue, said the production and application of green hydrogen would help to decarbonize the heavy industry, create jobs and make the energy sector as a whole greener.  “We are happy to share our developments and opportunities with Kazakhstan to help realize this potential as soon as possible,” Forrest said.

Kazakhstan today has about 3% of green energy in the country’s total energy output. At the same time, the country plans to increase its output to 15% by 2030, adding 7 GW of additional power. Kazakhstan’s government is taking measures to stimulate green investments and is ready to offer the Astana International Financial Centre as a unique regional investment center for green finance. PM Smailov highlighted that Kazakhstan set another ambitious climate goal by planting 2 billion trees until 2025.

Kazakhstan’s green strategy is led by The head of State, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who announced this month, that “Our country was the first among the CIS region to have ratified the Paris Agreement.” Tokayev reassured that Kazakhstan fully supports global efforts to address the climate emergency. “Our internal priorities”, he concluded, “are energy transition and fostering green economic development”.