BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 30. Kazakhstan remains firmly committed to achieving carbon neutrality and advancing a green economy, said Mansur Oshurbaev, the country's Vice Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources, Trend reports.
Speaking at a panel discussion on "The Innovation Challenge:
Making Climate Action
Work For All" at the Astana International Forum 2025, Oshurbaev
noted that the region has demonstrated strong political will toward
sustainable development and climate action.
He pointed out that Kazakhstan has been pulling out all the stops with strategic reforms over the past decades, including kicking off an emissions trading system and giving the green light to a national target to slice greenhouse gas emissions by fifteen percent by the end of this decade.
Oshurbaev highlighted the country’s progress in advancing its climate goals. He noted that Kazakhstan has maintained a functioning emissions trading system since 2013—a cornerstone of its environmental regulatory framework. In 2020, the president formally committed the nation to achieving carbon neutrality by 2060.
That commitment was further reinforced in 2023 when Kazakhstan approved its Updated Nationally Determined Contribution, pledging to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 15 percent by 2030. A broader national strategy for a phased transition to a green economy has also been adopted, targeting the decarbonization of the energy, transport, industrial, and agricultural sectors.
“Today, thanks to close cooperation with international partners, including the European Union, Kazakhstan has access to advanced technologies and global best practices in decarbonization. This cooperation is especially critical in the current geopolitical climate, where resilience and climate security have taken on global significance,” Oshurbaev said.
Kazakhstan is concurrently engaging in the international methane commitment, he noted, and is formulating a comprehensive regulatory architecture designed to mitigate methane emissions.
The vice minister also noted that by the end of 2024, the share of renewable energy in Kazakhstan’s overall energy mix had surpassed six percent. Officials plan to raise that figure to 15 percent by 2030. Large-scale initiatives are now underway to boost energy efficiency, promote cleaner industrial processes, and support green innovation and entrepreneurship.
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