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Years in the making, the Programme for the Development of Green Economy in the Kyrgyz Republic has been enacted, setting out a strategy and plan to create the basis for the introduction of green economy approaches to the development of the national economy by 2023. The comprehensive and detailed programme covers areas including climate change needs, commitments and actions on green agriculture, transport, energy, education, green industry, tourism, waste management sustainable procurement, finance and fiscal policy. The matrix of outcome targets, enacted along with the Programme, will facilitate effective and timely monitoring of the Programme implementation.

In past decades, like many other countries, the development of the Kyrgyz Republic was aimed at achieving economic growth through an intensive and unsustainable use of natural resources. Yet, it is apparent that continuing along this trajectory to seek economic growth, without taking into consideration ecological and social factors, will be harmful for both current and future generations. The Kyrgyz Republic has therefore altered their trajectory to instead work towards an inclusive, green economy. The Green Economy is understood in the Kyrgyz Republic as “an economy that results in the improvement of people’s welfare and the enhancement of social equity with the concurrent significant reduction of risks for the environment, while conserving and multiplying natural capital, efficiently using resources and incentivizing the conservation of natural ecosystems of the country.”

This journey began at the 2012 Rio+20 UN Sustainable Development Conference, alongside the conception of PAGE, with the Kyrgyz Republic reiterating its commitment to sustainable development via the promotion of Green Economy principles. The Kyrgyz Republic first joined PAGE in 2016 and in early 2018 the Kyrgyz Parliament adopted the “Concept of Kyrgyzstan as a Green Economy Country”, a first step in the formal policy process assigning the government to development a green economy programme. This in turn laid the groundwork for the government to develop the Programme for the Development of Green Economy for the country’s inclusive green economy transition, developed jointly with the UNDP Biodiversity Finance Initiative. Approved in November 2019, the Programme has now been enacted into force, accompanied by a detailed plan and indicators to monitor progress.

Integrating cross-cutting issues such as gender and poverty, the priority areas of the Programme include:

• Stable Natural Ecosystems: Ecosystems, biodiversity and addressing deforestation and climate change issues, as well as mining.
• Green Energy: Renewables, energy efficiency, retrofitting, district heating, emissions etc.
• Green Agriculture: Rural development, agro-industry, climate resilient and organic agriculture, water, land use.
• Green Manufacturing Industry: Chemical, organic and air pollution, waste, resource and energy efficiency, cleaner production.
• Low-Carbon and Ecologically Clean Transport: Air quality, public transport, Electric vehicles, infrastructure.
• Sustainable Tourism: Community based tourism, pollution, emissions.
• Municipal Waste Management: Circularity of materials, reducing emissions from waste burning and dumping.
• Green Cities: Access to drinking water and sanitation, utilities, urban infrastructure.
• Areas to support the inclusive green economy transition process: Sustainable financing, fiscal incentivization, sustainable public procurement, capacity building and awareness raising.

The expected results are diverse and ambitious, for example including the introduction of a law on organic agricultural production, increased public awareness on separated waste collection and a 4.5% reduction GDP energy intensiveness 2023, among many others. These outcomes will set into action the transition to an inclusive green economy in the Kyrgyz Republic while also presenting an impressive example for other countries to follow suit.

PAGE and GIZ Join Efforts to Design Economic Support Measures for Economic Growth and a Resilient and Cleaner Economy in Kazakhstan

COVID-19 has demonstrated the danger in underestimating systemic global risks. One such risk is climate change and its effects are accelerating. Increasing heat-trapping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere is resulting in not only rising average temperatures but also extreme weather events, changes in precipitation patterns and reductions in water availability, shifting vegetation zones and habitats with huge economy undermining potential.

Green policies for modernising the Kazakh economy

The decarbonization and improved energy efficiency of the economy, is at the core of the Kazakhstan’s Concept of transition to a Green Economy, adopted in 2013, and considered to be one of the most ambitious greening concepts in Europe and the Central Asian region. The Green Economy Concept was complemented with ambitious targets set in the National Development Strategy Kazakhstan 2025. Essential elements of the Green Economy Strategy are New Environmental Code is to provide practical instruments and regulatory framework to proceed with «greener» development. Since the adoption of the Green Economy Concept Kazakhstan has adopted international commitments under the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Work on integrating sustainable development goals and targets to align national policies with international commitments is ongoing.

Despite policy advancement, at the time of the pandemic, Kazakhstan remains largely depended on exploitation of fossil fuels and the export of hydrocarbons. Country still belongs to the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases (ranked 11 in 2018 in terms of emissions per capita) and to the most energy intensive economies in the world (ranked 5 in 2019 in terms of total energy consumption per unit of GDP), ranking 11 in 2019 with respect to the value of domestic fossil-fuel consumption subsidies. This highlights the need for continuous and comprehensive efforts to diversify the economy and increase the share of its non-oil GDP.

Joining efforts: the German government and the UN

Doubling efforts to support Kazakhstan in addressing these challenges, the Government of Germany has joined hands with PAGE, to set in place several low-carbon and green economy policy initiatives which would provide new impetus for Kazakhstan’s green transition.

1. The Low Emission Development Strategy 2050

The German Development Cooperation (GIZ) is supporting the Republic of Kazakhstan is developing a National Strategy for Low Carbon Economic Development until 2050 (LEDS). The LEDS will be based on the modelling of several scenarios and development pathways in 9 sectors until 2050. It incorporates social, environmental, and economic. The focus is on the inter and intra-sectoral physical transformations required to meet long-term emissions and socio-economic goals, taking into account evolutions in technologies and business models.

The LEDS strategy is developed in collaboration with PAGE, specifically in the chapters on waste management and circularity and the effects of fiscal policies, including fossil fuel subsidies.

1. A green recovery from the double crisis

The severe economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the steep decline in revenues from fossil fuel export is prompting the Kazakh government to enact economic support measures to boost economic growth, create jobs and to make hard choices to build a more resilient and cleaner economy. The Government of Kazakhstan has to reconsider and update the mid-term economic planning in view of the changed economic outlook.

COVID-19 Socioeconomic Response Group led by UNDP and is collaborating with PAGE to ensure that the updated version of the mid-term economic plan of Kazakhstan – the Strategic development plan until 2025 strategy - puts sustainability at the heart of the country’s economic recovery based on such key principles as:

• decarbonization of the economy with the development of green finance instruments.
• introduction of the best and carbon-neutral energy-efficient technologies for sustainable production and consumption through the targeted stimulus.
• responsibility for the use of resources and preservation of natural heritage and increased efficiency of environmental control and monitoring.
• development of non-fossil alternative energy sources and an increase in the reliability and efficiency of the transmission network
• ensuring the investment attractiveness of measures for the efficient use of resources, providing for a fair price formation system on the resources market, combined with fiscal reform.
• implementation of primarily cost-effective measures, prioritizing economically viable initiatives with environmental impact and/or providing for the decrease of energy consumption.
• eco-education and development of ecological culture with focus on the adjustment and development of a new curriculum and a systemic approach to public awareness raising.
• diversification of the economy through the development of rural areas, modernization of rural infrastructure and involvement of youth in agri-business and rural development.
• improved waste management based on economically feasible recycling technologies, management of waste flows, reduction in supply and demand for raw materials.
• innovation in critical technology areas: hydrogen and carbon capture, utilization and storage need support with focus on innovations in clean energy technologies.

1. New Environmental Code support

Best available techniques (BAT) is one of the key pillars of new Environmental Code of Kazakhstan is which will prevent and control industrial pollution. However, implementing BAT requires a dedicated legal framework. GIZ and PAGE UN agencies are supporting the transformation of the industry sector by elaborating a legal and regulatory frameworks for Integrated Environmental Permitting (IEP) based on Best Available Techniques (BAT), contributing to climate change mitigation, improved air quality, reduced water consumption and pollution.

Unlocking green finance

The transition requires the mobilization of investments for the decarbonization of priority sectors and advance resilience. UNDP Kazakhstan, has developed innovative solutions that facilitate access to finance, leveraging both public and private resources, and effectively address the risk-concerns of private sector investors. The government of Germany as one of the donor countries that supported UNDP initiative on biodiversity and ecosystem conservation financing within the global Biodiversity Finance Initiative (BIOFIN).  In Kazakhstan it resulted in development of new financial mechanisms. The piloting, for example, of carbon offset mechanisms, allowed to leverage private investments of the biggest blockchain companies in the world (register unaccounted forests and plant additional forests, with a plan to scale up globally). As a result, for the first time in Kazakhstan, a privately-owned company invested in an environmental project to balance out their carbon footprint.

There are many other examples of private sector companies introducing financial mechanism for attracting investment into low carbon projects (through PPP, ESCO agreements). They have already brought USD 46 million of investments for green projects with the potential to reduce more than 1 million lifetime CO2 emissions.

Green economy requires not just investments and laws, It is also about new partnerships and opportunities. «Greened» recovery responses with well-directed public spending and investments in the green transition will provide not only for addressing the consequences of the current crisis but also build resilience to future economic shocks and accelerate transition towards the achievement of inclusive sustainable development.

PAGE is committed to work with all partners at all levels in Kazakhstan, to help support its inclusive Green Economic transformation as fast as possible.

The issue of solid waste management is of high priority in Bishkek. 1000 tons of waste is collected daily, and the country has accumulated more than 100 million tons of production and consumption waste placed in landfills. Every year as the population of Bishkek increases so does the volume of solid waste, causing the issue to worsen further.  

Highlighting its multi-disciplinary nature, PAGE is tackling the issue of waste management in the Kyrgyz Republic from two different but complementary angles: UNEP will support the development of economic and legal mechanisms for waste management, contributing to the development of a draft Government Decree on economic mechanisms in the field of waste management and by preparing amendments to relevant laws. In tandem, UNDP has launched an eco-competition on solid waste management in Bishkek.  

The UNDP-led initiative invites innovators, representatives of the private sector and civil society to participate, with the aim to develop innovative, diverse and effective ideas for solid waste management. Solutions are being sought on waste reduction, public awareness campaigns, increasing the percentage of recycling and reuse of materials, support for separate waste collection infrastructure as well as implementation of new technologies in existing or new enterprises related to processing, sorting and production from recycled materials.  

Winners of the competition will receive 3000 to 5000 USD to implement their project from August to November 2020. Applications will be submitted by 7 August, including project plans, budgets, team capabilities and related experience.

As India unveils its relief and recovery packages in response to the COVID pandemic crisis,  The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), a leading think tank dedicated to conducting research for sustainable development of India and the Global South, along with the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) held a webinar titled ‘Greening the Economic Recovery in India’ on May 14, 2020.  

The recommendations included building-in green growth principles of inclusivity and environmental sustainability into recovery and revival packages — in which innovations and mainstreaming in the domain of extended producer responsibility, sustainable finance, green skills and green entrepreneurship, consumer awareness and market development will be very important in this context. 

Rather than focusing on individual cash infusions without fundamental reforms, the webinar focused on moving forward from relief measures with a focus on thematic aspects such as sectoral interventions, financing, technology collaborations and regulatory and policy alignments that support a green recovery. The present COVID-19 crises offers an opportunity to leverage fundamental changes in decision-making at the policy level, such as better inter-agency coordination, considering sustainable development goals in state and national budgeting. There is an opportunity particularly to use economic measures to create new, green jobs through appropriate targeting to promote renewables, waste management, sustainable cold chains, resource efficiency and natural-capital based activities in rural areas. Fiscal stimulus and government spending in green sectors, such as renewable energy, can boost a green recovery path through demand creation while creating employments. In this context, PAGE was mentioned by Stephan Contius, the Commissioner for the 2030 Agenda within the German Federal Environment Ministry, as an important multi-stakeholder mechanism for enabling contributions towards green economic recovery.

PAGE India’s National Coordinator participated in the webinar as a panellist. The webinar was attended by, inter alia, Ajay Mathur (Director General, TERI) who is also a member of the PAGE National Steering Committee; Shantanu Gotmare (India Country Representative, GGGI); Stephan Contius (Commissioner for the 2030 Agenda, German Federal Environment Ministry); Henriette Faergemann (Counsellor, European Union Delegation to India); Ashish Chaturvedi (Director-Climate Change, Deutsche Gesellschaftfür Internationale Zusammenarbeit); senior Government of India officials representing the ministries of Finance, MSME, Rural Development and New and Renewable Energy; representative of industry, academia and policy-advocacy groups.

With the aim for organizing waste collectors into cooperatives, the International Labour Organization (ILO) has launched a “Rapid assessment of the waste management market in Senegal for the use of the cooperative advantage in the sector” and a “Rapid assessment of the potential for a cooperative approach to waste management in Senegal”. The launch will include national workshops with UNIDO, focusing on the plastics value chain, to discuss on the creation of a new industry around plastic, with high employment and income potential.
 
Like many other countries, Senegal suffers from a lack of access to waste management services and the poor urban population of Senegal's cities suffers disproportionately from the problems linked to the poor management of solid waste: pollution of the air, surrounding waters, etc. In addition, waste pickers are mainly low-income women and men who migrate from rural areas to collect, sort and sell waste from the streets or landfills, working in unprotected conditions and increasing health risks. By organizing in an associative or cooperative form, waste pickers can access economic formalization and social inclusion and benefit from market access, occupational health and safety, social protection and a stable income.

In this vein, the ILO, in 2019, established a partnership with WIEGO (Women in Informal Employment) to explore the possibilities of organizing informal waste pickers from Mbeubeuss into cooperatives to improve their working conditions. In 2019, the two organizations co-organized a workshop bringing together the main national institutions involved in waste management, including the Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development, the National Waste Management Program and the President and 20 members of an association of informal waste pickers in Senegal.