By Anton Usov
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Kazakhstan are joining forces to support more than 100 countries in their efforts to combat global warming. The parties will work towards Kazakhstan joining the Global Methane Pledge and so collectively help to reduce global methane emissions by 30 per cent by 2030.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed today by Kazakhstan’s Minister of Ecology, Geology and Natural Resources Serikkali Brekeshev, and EBRD Vice President Alain Pilloux, will help Central Asia’s largest greenhouse gas (GHG) emitter to accelerate emissions abatement in order to achieve its 2060 carbon neutrality target and goals of the Paris Agreement.
In line with the MoU, the EBRD and Kazakhstan will be aiming to reduce GHG emissions in sectors such as the transportation of energy and gas, agribusiness, municipal waste and wastewater services. The parties also agreed to cooperate on the development of a National Methane Emissions Inventory and Reduction Programme.
The EBRD is already helping Kazakhstan in the process by supporting the Kazakhstan Fugitive Methane Emissions and Carbon Intensity Reduction Programme targeting the national gas infrastructure.
EBRD Vice President Alain Pilloux said: “We are at the beginning of the road which will hopefully bring Kazakhstan closer to alignment with the Paris Agreement and its 2060 carbon neutrality target. This will have long lasting economic and environmental benefits for this country and will send a strong signal to international investors about its commitment to the green agenda.”
Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to the formation of ground-level ozone, a hazardous air pollutant and itself a greenhouse gas. Its sources include landfill, oil and natural gas systems, agricultural activities, coal mining, stationary and mobile combustion, wastewater treatment and some industrial processes.
It has accounted for around 30 per cent of global warming since the pre-industrial era and is proliferating faster than at any other time since records began in the 1980s, according to the United Nations Environment Programme.
