Kazakh President Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev, during the 34th plenary session of the Foreign Investors Council, emphasised the urgency of decarbonising the economy and introducing low-carbon technologies, Qazaq Green reports.

President noted the intention of the European Union to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030 and to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. At the same time, he drew attention to the fact that Kazakh exporters will have to pay a carbon border tax to the EU budget starting from 2026, which may affect the competitiveness of domestic products.

In this context, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev elaborated on the actions taken to reduce the carbon footprint of the country's economy and to prevent economic losses. In particular, he reported on the work done by the Government to bring the national emissions trading system closer to the European one.

“It is necessary to accelerate revision of the methodology for calculating specific factor for greenhouse gas emissions (benchmarks) towards tightening the requirements. The calculation approach should be similar to the European one - based on the top 10 enterprises in the industry. We have to take into account not only primary, but also secondary types of production, as well as expand the coverage of economic sectors similar to the European Union Emissions Trading System. I ask members of the Council to provide methodological and practical assistance,” he said.

The Head of State pointed out the necessity of step-by-step transition to a paid distribution of quotas for export-oriented sectors of the economy. In his opinion, domestic cap-and-trade system should be based on reliable data on the measurement and verification of greenhouse gas emissions.

“However, in reality we see a completely different picture. Authorities for validation and verification of greenhouse gas emissions do not visit the sites of plant operators, certifying the submitted reports remotely. Thus, they can simultaneously verify about 20 reports from different regions of the country. This raises serious doubts about the reliability of such reports. Therefore, I instruct the Government to take effective measures to enhance the responsibility and competence of the authorities for the validation and verification of greenhouse gas emissions,” the President said.

In addition, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev discussed the adoption of a new Environmental Code, aimed at stimulating the stage-by-stage preparatory work of enterprises for a major energy transition. The document gives enterprises the opportunity to modernise their production facilities with complete exemption from environmental payments. At the same time, he reminded of the obligation of large industrial enterprises to install automated emission monitoring systems by January 1, 2023 and instructed the Government to ensure timely and proper fulfilment of this requirement.