Yevgeniy Bolgert, Deputy Chairman of the Board - Member of the Board of the "Atameken” National Chamber of Entrepreneurs of the Republic of Kazakhstan

The need for a transition to a “green” economy was first voiced in 2012 in the Address of the President N. A. Nazarbayev - "Kazakhstan - 2050” Strategy”. A number of documents on the transition of the Republic to a “green” economy has been developed and approved over this period in Kazakhstan. The approved "Concept on the Transition of the Republic of Kazakhstan to a Green Economy” laid the foundation for major reforms by improving the welfare and quality of the country's population life, as well as for becoming one of the 30 most developed countries in the world while minimizing environmental pressure and natural resources degradation.

Importance is given to the issue of providing incentives to business for the use of green technologies. The International Center for Green Technologies and Investment Projects was created to support and implement low-carbon investment projects with the search for potential investors, technical analysis of projects and the possibility of transferring the best green technologies.

A set of market mechanisms is being implemented under the Paris Agreement, which includes an emission trading system, emissions reduction and greenhouse gases absorption projects, renewable energy projects, as well as developing a green investment market.

Renewable technologies are currently getting a significant success in economic maturity and competition. The amount of energy generated from renewable sources is growing each year, and the cost of technology is getting significantly reduced.

The Republic of Kazakhstan also aims at achieving the target indicators in the renewable energy field, stipulated by the Concept for the transition of the Republic of Kazakhstan to a «green economy», where the main strategic tasks include the plans to increase the share of renewable energy in the total electricity production in 2020 to 3%, in 2025 to 6%, 10% by 2030, and by 2050 renewable energy sources and alternative energy sources should account for at least half of the total electricity production.

A constructive work has been established between the state and the business community. To date, Kazakhstan's legislation in the field of RE support has provided extensive incentives for the promotion of renewable energy, such as: guaranteed purchase of electricity and from renewable energy for 15 years through traditional plants, indexation to inflation, free and priority transportation of electricity and from renewable energy sources, and others.

In addition, since 2018, the selection of renewable energy projects is carried out using the auction mechanism (instead of the fixed tariffs for renewable energy). This made possible to make the process of selecting projects and investors transparent and understandable, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, to bet on more efficient technologies and projects that would minimize the impact on tariffs for end consumers from commissioning renewable energy capacities.

As a result, we can note the growth of the renewable energy market in Kazakhstan. According to the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the market of renewable energy sources of the Republic of Kazakhstan currently has 92 operating facilities with a total capacity of 1,150.5 MW (19 WPP - 283.8 MW; 32 SPP - 641.7 MW; 37 HPP -222.2 MW; 4 BioPP - 2.82 MW). In 2020, the number of renewable energy sources is planned to be increased to 108 facilities with a capacity of 1655 MW.

For reference: In 2014, there were 26 operating facilities with an installed capacity of 178 MW.

According to the results of 2019, the volume of renewable energy generation amounted to 2.4 billion kWh or 2.3% (of the annual volume of 105.9 billion kWh). The increase in electricity production by renewable energy facilities compared to the same period in 2018 is 84%.

The construction of renewable energy facilities also involved Kazakhstani engineers, builders and support staff (approximately 300- 400 specialists per facility) and created 975 of so-called permanent green jobs (of which 834 are men and 141 are women)."

On the other hand, it is worth noting that an excessive increase in renewable energy facilities creates risks for the reliability of the energy system in Kazakhstan, since renewable energy  sources are not permanent sources of energy.

Therefore, it is necessary to stimulate green financing, recognizing as such the investments aimed at introducing the best available technologies (BAT), and the measures to improve energy efficiency and energy saving and to reduce environmental emissions.

It should be noted that modern legislation of the OECD and EAEU countries in every way stimulates projects for production greening. So, in some EU countries, the USA, Japan, China, and in most of the least developed countries, loans are provided through special modernization funds at a rate of 1% to 6% to enterprises implementing BAT, where the interest on loans is partially or fully covered.

When introducing BAT in the Russian Federation, it is possible to enter a special investment contract, under which an entrepreneur can receive a number of benefits, both in taxes and in sales of his products.

At the same time, it is necessary to work on establishing balancing capacities and increasing the energy efficiency of the industries in parallel. Great potential on energy efficiency and resource conservation remains with the industrial sectors of the economy.

According to the business community, the energy efficiency policy in Kazakhstan should be reviewed considering the potential of the real sector of the economy (industry), since the largest share of energy consumption is accounted for by large enterprises and infrastructure facilities.

Considering the commitment of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the principles of transition to a green economy and other commitments made, these issues are especially relevant for the country.

Thus, by analogy with the international practice, along with the development of renewable energy sources it is proposed to stimulate green financing aimed at introducing BAT, measures to increase energy efficiency and energy saving and to reduce environmental emissions.

Strengthening green financing can contribute to the growth of the high capacity of green industries, promote technological innovation and create conditions for business and the financial industry.

At the same time, the Concept for the Transition to a Green Economy set target indicators for the green economy in which the share of alternative sources in total electricity generation by 2030 should be 30% (the development level of alternative energy is 9.4% (hydroelectric power plants).

I would like to note that Kazakhstan has alternative energy sources, the implementation of which will not only significantly reduce the environmental impact on the atmosphere in the process of generating electricity, but will also have a positive effect on the energy supply of individual regions, provide an increased energy efficiency due to the significant savings of traditional fuels, and accordingly will have an impact on the energy intensity of the economy.

Based on the foregoing, we consider it necessary to ensure a balance between the development of renewable energy sources and traditional generation.