Antalya, 13 November. Five agreements on climate and energy projects have been signed in Kazakhstan’s national pavilion at the 31st Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP31) in Antalya, the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources said.
They concern methane leaks from gas networks, afforestation, two wind farms and smart gas meters.
The documents were signed on 11 November, according to the ministry’s report on the pavilion’s working day. Two of them are framework agreements, and both bear the signature of Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Alibek Kuantyrov.
The ministry concluded the first framework agreement with the companies VEMA S.A. and Carbon Bridge Central Asia Ltd. It concerns projects known in the industry by the abbreviation LDAR (leak detection and repair): the detection and elimination of methane leaks, in this case in the gas networks of QazaqGaz Aimaq. The second framework agreement was signed with the partnership SAFC and the company SEFE Marketing & Trading Ltd. It is devoted to a project for afforestation and the restoration of degraded land in Almaty Region, named in the document SAFC ARR “Kapshagay”. The ministry expects it to increase the absorption of greenhouse gases, preserve biodiversity and improve living conditions for rural residents.
Both projects rely on Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, and the forestry project on its paragraph 2. This article allows countries to cooperate in fulfilling their climate commitments, including by transferring achieved emission reductions to one another.
The three other documents are about financing. The Development Bank of Kazakhstan, Halyk Bank of Kazakhstan and the partnership New Clean Energy agreed to jointly implement and co-finance the construction of a 150 MW wind farm in the Baidibek district of Turkistan Region: the plant itself, the associated infrastructure and power lines. Separately, the Development Bank of Kazakhstan agreed to open a credit line for the partnership Turan Wind Energy for a 1 GW wind farm in Kostanay Region. It is to be connected to the Northern zone of Kazakhstan’s Unified Power System.
Another credit line is being opened by the Development Bank of Kazakhstan for QazaqGaz Aimaq for the Aqyl Energy project. Under it, 1.35 million smart gas meters that transmit readings remotely are to be installed in all gas-supplied regions of the country, and a single digital gas metering platform is to be created.
On the same day the joint-stock company Zhasyl Damu signed four memorandums of cooperation: with the companies ARM, PUZER, NULOOP and LoopEnerGren Capital. They were signed by the chairman of the company’s management board, Yerzhan Sarsenbay. The memorandums concern waste sorting and recycling, modern waste collection systems, the recycling of lithium-ion batteries and renewable energy.
The ministry does not name the amounts of the credit lines or the timing of the projects.
What it means: Of the five agreements, two open the way for carbon projects under the rules of the Paris Agreement: methane leaks and tree planting. The other three are money from the Development Bank of Kazakhstan and Halyk Bank for two wind farms and for replacing gas meters across the country.
Who benefits: QazaqGaz Aimaq takes part in two documents at once: it gets a credit line for meters and a project on methane leaks in its networks. The ministry writes that the agreements will attract investment and modern technology and help fulfil the country’s climate commitments.
Background: The Conference of the Parties is the annual meeting of the countries that signed the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The thirty-first is taking place in Antalya, Türkiye, and Kazakhstan has a national pavilion there with its own programme. On 10 November Kazakhstan presented its Country Platform for Climate Investment in Antalya, and on 11 November Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov spoke at the conference.
We have also reported on how Kazakhstan presented a unified climate investment platform at COP31 and on how Bektenov invited partners to create a water organisation under the auspices of the UN.
