LocationsYour Excellency Prime Minister Askar Mamin,
Distinguished Ministers, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen
Thank you for the opportunity to say a few words today on behalf of the United Nations Development Programme.
The subject of today’s meeting is very much in line with the global climate change aspirations. I am happy to note that Kazakhstan is making great progress towards low-carbon and climate-resilience development.
Development of a new Environmental Code is a crucial step to enable the implementation of important international obligations, to set a frame for the sustainable use of natural resources, mitigation and adaptation measures, and building resilience in the face of climate change.
We are glad that new EcoCode lays the basis for the creation of Strategic Environmental Assessment system in Kazakhstan in line with international standards, allowing to assess at early stages the likely environmental consequences of the sectoral state plans and programs.
It is important that the new EcoCode simplifies the current national scheme for environmental impact assessment and enhances the role of public in this process.
The Code now positively integrates both climate change mitigation and adaptation elements into laws, which was missing in the past. This is important to fully undertake the country’s commitments under the Paris Agreement, but it also promises to increase the resilience of the country, its economy, and people to climate risks.
Development of a new EcoCode is a significant achievement. Equally important, though, is to translate the code into action- which requires developing legal and regulatory framework to implement the law.
We believe we can build on our existing collaboration to help in this respect. At project level, we have already been working in a close collaboration with the Ministry of Environment as well as with other line ministries on the full cycle of climate change adaptation, which includes assessing, planning, implementing, and monitoring adaptation actions.
As the new EcoCode now integrates these principles into economic sectors, especially in the regions, we are now working with our partners to finalize a new project on National Adaptation Planning that could be of great help in implementation as we also hope to attract funding from the Green Climate Fund. We hope that this project will be soon finalized by the Ministry for submission to the GCF;
We see a great potential through the passing and implementation of the Code to create a clear definition of what «green» means for finances and technology. This will be important to create an enabling environment for the businesses as well as other relevant actors on climate mitigation.
We see the need closely as we work with public sector, private companies, municipalities, and financial institutions on low-carbon projects to reduce or compensate greenhouse gas emissions ranging from energy efficiency to renewables to biodiversity pilots.
As an example, we are working with the Ministry on the introduction of compensation mechanisms for biodiversity loss[1]. Last week in Istanbul, UNDP signed an agreement with one of the world's leading blockchain companies BitFury Group on such compensatory mechanism. First time in Kazakhstan a private company will invest in forest carbon offset project in order to balance out their own carbon footprint.
Such experience can inform our support to the Government in new EcoCode implementation with necessary improvements along the way to mobilize private investments for saving energy and offsetting emissions while protecting natural assets.
For its part, UNDP is committed to continue to support the Kazakh government and facilitate action where required.
Thank you for your attention!
[1] Suggestions on compensatory mechanism for biodiversity loss were submitted to the Ministry of ecology and were supported by the Green Council. However, being introduced in the Concept of the Environmental Code, those suggestions were not reflected in the final draft EcoCode.
