Kazakhstan’s climate change policy: reflecting national strength, green economy aspirations and international agenda

ABSTRACT

This article looks at how Kazakhstan’s heavy dependence on fossil fuels and its political context shape national discourse on climate change. Based on extensive analysis of the country’s strategic documents and expert interviews, we argue that although Kazakhstan’s economy relies on fossil fuels, the government is keen to promote sustainable development to attract international investments and advance its image as a ‘strong state’ for the domestic audience, and as a progressive and reliable partner for the international audience. Whilst there is little evidence of ‘post-colonial’ rhetoric appearing in Kazakhstan’s official climate change discourse, the state’s past is evident in its instrumental approach to environmental issues which in turn translates into inconsistencies in its climate change policy.

KEYWORDS:

• Central Asia
• Kazakhstan
• climate change
• climate policy
• sustainable development

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Dr Imad El-Anis, our interviewees and two anonymous reviewers for their invaluable contributions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. For instance, in China, Kazakhstan’s key strategic energy sector partner and the world’s leading coal producer, the share of coal in its energy mix dropped by 66% and renewables’ share reached 15% in 2020 (The Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, 2020).

2. Partly due to the Covid-19 pandemic (Climate Action Tracker, 2020).

3. See Figure 2 for Kazakhstan’s GHG emissions’ trajectory.

4. Weinthal and Watters (2010) notice that Nazarbayev was using the rhetoric of environmental concern as a tool for building his image and legitimacy both in the domestic and international arenas during his first years of leadership.

5. The base level is 401.87 million tons/year, and it was 396.57 in 2018

6. The concern over investments also underpins the recent silencing of coal production as the foreign sponsors (even China) are less motivated to support ‘brown’ industries (interview 10).

7. Like many other post-Communist countries (see: Kudaibergenova, 2016b; Lankina et al., 2016a; Libman & Obydenkova, 2019; Nazarov & Obydenkova, 2020; Pop-Eleches & Tucker, 2017) Kazakhstan has been and still is dealing with a diverse range of Soviet legacies, such as corruption, its dependence on Soviet trade ties and misinformation.

8. The importance of democracy (associated with decentralisation, transparency, and lower corruption) for environmental policy and agenda has been studied in Payne 1995; Fredriksson and Wollscheid (2007); Libman and Obydenkova (2014), Obydenkova and Salahodjaev (2016, 2017), Obydenkova et al. (2016); Fredriksson and Neumayer (2013)