The beginning of the new year was marked by good news for the public of our country – the President of Kazakhstan signed the new Environmental Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Aigul Solovyova, Chairman of the Management Board of Association of Environmental Organizations of Kazakhstan ALE, tells about the innovations introduced in the document regulating environmental safety, what goals and objectives the new code sets.

– Aigul Sagadibekovna, the President at the beginning of the year signed the Environmental Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan, adopted by the country’s Parliament. Please tell us what innovations does this document suggest and how is it important for our country?

- In the opinion of the public, which is engaged in and is committed to improving the environment in the country, the new Environmental Code, which will enter into force on July 1, 2021, is perceived as important and satisfying the needs of our people based on the fact that it has incorporated the best practices of the countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). First of all, I would like to note the strengthening of the role of the public, since the codified act defines its participation in state decision-making. Such decisions include assessment of the environmental effectiveness of the acts adopted by local executive bodies, the conduct of state environmental expertise, and the receipt of environmental permits by industrial enterprises after EIA. The obligation of holders of environmental information to provide environmental information is established. It is worth noting that the Association contributed to the consolidation of these norms. We took part in the development of the Ecocode's Concept, and then were fully engaged in the working groups of the Ministry and the Majilis of the Parliament when discussing the draft version. It is proposed to tighten the responsibility for legal entities, as well as individuals, within the framework of administrative and criminal liability. For example, for cutting down trees, the size of the administrative fine is increased by 5 times and in the case of repeated offenses, the fine increases to 1,500 MCI, including cutting down in specially protected natural areas.

The Code provides for the rejection of total environmental regulation, and it is cancelled for category IV, and declaration is provided for category III objects. The main focus of the regulatory authorities will be placed on large enterprises of category I and only for them mandatory environmental insurance is provided.

The principle of "the polluter pays" has been introduced, which obliges to correct the violation. The violator, according to the law, will have to make compensation for the damage caused to nature. For example, the Environmental Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated January 9, 2007 was based on the principle of "pay and pollute", which implied the issuance of a permit to pay for emissions. Fr om 2025, the enterprises that intend that intend to obtain a comprehensive environmental permit, are required to switch to the principles of the best available techniques, including reducing the resources consumed, improving energy efficiency, strict monitoring of emissions, the use of low-waste, effective new technologies, technological solutions that minimize the impact on the environment, and etc. For the transition to the principles of BAT, the state "returns" to the enterprise the fee for reducing pollution into the environment, and theywill receive comprehensive environmental permits (CEP) for emissions. They will not only define emission standards, but also prescribe measures to reduce emissions into the environment. In case of refusal to implement BAT, a progressive fee rate will be applied - by two, four and eight times. Large industrial enterprises must comply with environmental standards adopted by the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan, which will make it possible to apply uniform requirements for all sectors of Kazakhstan in practice. Including for technologies imported into the country, although the previous code regulated a personal approach, without taking into account the impact of the industry on the environment.

– As part of the development of the Environmental Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan, a lot of work has been done by the Ministry of Ecology, the expert community, and the public to discuss its provisions. What are the next steps? What is the final result of the implementation of this document?

- The implementation of the code will require the development of regulatory legal acts, and there are about 150 of them. The Association is actively involved in this process. The adopted code provides for additional mechanisms for its full implementation, so it is necessary to unite the efforts of all stakeholders to achieve one goal - to reduce the impact on the environment. The Ministry of Ecology, Geology and Natural Resources, as well as local executive bodies, should work to determine both country and regional target indicators of environmental quality (TIEQ), which was not previously practiced. Taking into account the totality of the tasks set and their solutions, it is expected to reduce the consumption of natural resources, the use of clean technologies and the reduction of production waste. The introduction of environmental management will serve as a reliable tool for improving the efficiency of the enterprise, saving energy resources, and reducing the impact of production on the plant and animal world.

According to the code, it will be mandatory to install automated monitoring systems and environmental protection equipment, as well as to carry out measures to clean up the land on which the object is located. It should be noted that Kazakhstan has adopted many legislative acts that are to a certain extent aimed at protecting the environment.

These include the Code on Natural Resources and Subsurface Use, water, land, and business codes, as well as the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan ’On Energy Saving and Energy Efficiency Improvement’. But they all operate according to the industry principle.

– During the discussion of the new version of the Environmental Code, a controversy arose between the environmental community and representatives of traditional sectors of the economy, metallurgists, who today consume about half of the electricity on traditional fuel-coal. What is the main contradiction? How did you manage to overcome it? Is there a consensus?

- In my opinion, large businesses have a common understanding of the need to improve the environment, because their families and children also breathe polluted air. Togetherwith the entire population, they consume water into which harmful substances are discharged and feed on products grown on degraded land. Another problem is the costs of modernizing production and there is some cunning on their part when they tell that those costs are huge and unaffordable. The dispute was mainly about the trillion-dollar settlements made by manufacturers who, according to their vision, should have invested in BAT. However, after consistent explanations from both the environmental community and the Ministry of Ecology, the debate gradually died off. One of the well-reasoned arguments from nature defenders was that the fixed approach is a global trend, and, in case of rejection of the path to switch to ’green rails’, you will have to pay border tax when exporting to the EU.

Developed countries are currently discussing its size and terms of collection, as they have seriously taken up cross-border regulation on the non-admission of products with a large carbon footprint.

And businesses just need to draw conclusions and honestly answer the main question, which is better: to modernize and be competitive, orto pay out of their margins and lose the dynamics of sustainable development? Defending their interests without taking into account the needs of the population and not considering the issue comprehensively is the thing of the past. After all, the code has radically changed regulatory approaches. And the world community is tightening the requirements for goods produced with the use of faulty technologies, and the environmental safety of the enterprise makes it competitive.

– What else could we do in the field of environmental policy? As the RK President Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev said, can we work "ahead of the others", and not to extinguish fires? What is needed for that?

- Today, environmental policy is one of the first items on the agenda in many countries that are trade and economic partners of Kazakhstan. We have joined the Paris Agreement, developed an Environmental Code, developed renewable energy sources, identified the ’greening the economy’ as one of the main principles of the new economic policy, and solved the issues to minimize air pollution in large cities. At the same time, when you observe the international experience in this area, it seems that we are still lagging behind and every time we try to catch up. I would like to note that before the adoption of the code, Kazakhstan did not carry out calculations on target indicators, and little attention was paid to an integrated approach involving all industry departments. The new code sets tasks for all state bodies.

The Concept of Kazakhstan's transition to a green economy and the ISO 14001 (eco-management) standards should play a huge role in the proactive factor, and the Environmental Code allows us to combine all these requirements and standards. An innovation in it can also include a reference book on the best available technologies, as well as conclusions and data on them, on the basis of which comprehensive environmental permits will be issued. Thus, all of the above will be harmoniously subordinated to one goal - to reduce the impact on the environment, and the introduction of a ’close-loop’ economy will strengthen the achievement of this goal.

A closed-loop economy involves sharing products and buying services, rather than goods, in which materials are used multiple times and are designed to last a long time. All this time, Kazakhstan has used a linear economy: goods are still produced from raw materials and sold in the maximum possible quantities, and eventually thrown away. With the adoption of the Code, it is possible to reuse the material in the manufacture of homogeneous goods and at the end of the service life or at an intermediate stage, which will lead to a minimum reduction in the amount of waste. In turn, this will allow the maximum use of waste as raw materials and classify them by analogy with the European Union.

– The President of the Republic of Kazakhstan K. Tokayev, speaking at the summit on climate ambitions, announced that Kazakhstan will achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. What does this goal imply for our country? What consequences or transformations will it entail for the economy? Isn’t it too ambitious?

- The achievement of any goals, including ambitious ones, should be spelled out in the strategic document and an action plan is needed for its implementation. As I know, the Head of State noted that Kazakhstan will develop a long-term development strategy aimed at achieving the goal of ’reducing emissions and decarbonizing the economy’. Work has already begun in this direction. In support of these intentions, I would like to emphasize that the development of the Environmental Code incorporated the obligations defined by international treaties in the field of environmental protection and signed by Kazakhstan.

The Paris Agreement is given special attention in the code, so it provides for the reduction of not only harmful emissions, but also greenhouse gases, including measures to adapt the country's population to climate change.

The great hope that many things will change in our country and we will be able to move from declarations to real improvement of the situation, is also connected with the Presidential Decree No. 520 of February 26. It clearly defines National priorities in three areas until 2025, all of which are directly related to the issue raised: ’The well-being of citizens’, ’The quality of institutions’ and ’A strong economy’. With clearly embroidered 10 tasks ’Fair social policy’, ’New model of public administration’, ’Active development of economic and trade diplomacy’, ’Fair and efficient state’, ’Building a diversified and innovative economy’, and etc. Paragraph 2 clearly identifies 18 achievability targets with specific 5 anti-corruption indicators.

– In your opinion, do the current youth understand that in 30-40 years they will live in a completely different world, will the behavioral imperative of the "consumer" society change? Or while ordinary public is far from it?

—Theworld is changing. The past year since the WHO declared the COVID-19 pandemic, in ourview, has accelerated these changes. We are seeing the ’greening’ of the economies of the leading countries, the introduction of economic incentives, for example, such as the ’carbon tax’, and the policy of carbon neutrality. Today, it has become important not only how energy-efficient a particular electrical appliance is, but also with what resources a particular product was produced. The world is entering the stage of the so-called 4th energy transition, which consists in the widespread use of renewable energy sources and the displacement of fossil fuels.

I do not think that our young people are far from this, because not only we, but also other countries went through the process of awareness and pragmatic calculations until the end of the 90s of the XX century. Since the beginning of this millennium, a policy of economic development and sustained economic growth has been launched. In the course of subsequent research, it only became clear that such an approach does not solve the problems of the development of society. In this connection, it was found that rather deprives it of new opportunities, dooms it to technological degradation and leads to a decrease in the quality of life of people. The OECD, which includes economically developed countries, conceived of alternative approaches to this dilemma, and their results were proof of this. At the level of econometric models and the theory of economic cycles, there was a need to integrate approaches to ensuring economic growth. By creating new production capacities, increasing investment and consumption with environmental policies.

The realization of this fact served as the starting point for the development of the OECD Strategy for ’a green growth’ in the following years and the elaboration of its parametric and indicative tools, which, under the current leadership of the Organization, became a turn towards pragmatism, a responsible and conscious attitude to the future of humanity. Studies have shown that to do this, a ignificant part of the proven hydrocarbon reserves should never be extracted and used as fuel: from the proven reserves of coal - 80%; natural gas - 50%; oil - 30%. The first country to announce the termination of the issuance of licenses for the exploration and development of new hydrocarbon deposits was France. All countries are required to reach the peak ofGHG emissions in the shortest possible time and start their absolute reduction. At the same time, developed countries should immediately take action, since GHG emissions cause adverse climate changes for humans, i.e. they cause damage to them, so they have a price.

Currently, there are also trading exchanges in our country, and within the framework of the legislation, the Association is working on the development of a platform fortrading quotas and carbon units. This is very important for Kazakhstan, because the initiative announced by Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to plant 2 billion trees can also contribute to the market, as it absorbs greenhouse gas emissions. Based on the fact that there is a concept of the social cost of emissions, and it has a quantitative estimate of $ 37 per ton of equivalent CO2 and predicts that by 2020 it will grow to $ 42, and by 2050 -to $ 69 per ton.

The issue of energy saving and the introduction of motivational approaches to the development of RES is very important. After all, as a result, reducing emissions into the atmosphere and low-carbon content for our country are becoming priorities.

We have good examples of investments in energy efficiency, renewable energy, and pollution reduction. The Burnoe Solar-2 project, an ambitious solar park, is a positive signal that private interest is emerging, despite the current high dependence on coal and oil. For example, as of January 1, 2017, there are about 50 enterprises operating in the country that use renewable energy with a total capacity of about 300 MW, the share of electricity generated in 2016 was 1%, but we need to strive for more.

I think that we are also aware of the challenges that hinder the full development of RES. It is the environment and infrastructure that have not become the key determinants of national development and the starting point for innovation. At the same time, everyone knows that more than 70% of electricity is generated on outdated equipment of coal-fired power plants, and the industry itself emits 80% of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Currently, there is an intensive process of converting the CHPP to gas and switching to green technologies, and I hope that it will be given momentum after the introduction of the Environmental Code and other priority programs initiated by the President.

– Do you plan to promote environmental issues among the general population at the state level? How can we ensure that our citizens’ attitude to nature is based on the principles of "do not pollute", "clean up after yourself", "save for children" and become part of the culture of our society?

The Association of Environmental Organizations of Kazakhstan is working to inform students, school students, and the public. Including teams of industrial enterprises to explain the problems of climate change. As I mentioned earlier, the Code sets out goals to prevent and reduce the adverse effects and damage caused by climate change on human health, ecological systems, society and the economy, to reduce vulnerability to climate change, and to take advantage of the opportunities associated with climate change. It should be noted that the Ministry of Ecology, Geology and Natural Resources of the

Republic of Kazakhstan has been discussing the draft code in all regions of Kazakhstan over a year. Significantly, the promotion of environmental issues among the general population is certainly necessary, but I would like to note that one needs to start with himself and with the family wh ere the children grow up...

– Thank you for the interview!