Dubai, 2 December 2023 (TDI): President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev expressed Kazakhstan’s strong commitment to solving global climate concerns and listed critical efforts in his keynote address at the COP28 summit in UAE on December 1.
The President of Kazakhstan stated that half of the global population lives in climate-vulnerable areas. Small island states, landlocked developing countries, and impoverished countries are particularly susceptible.
According to Tokayev, the present geopolitical instability and absence of energy security make it hard to pay attention to the climate crisis.
Kazakhstan’s efforts to conserve environment
He highlighted that his country supports the UN’s demand to take meaningful steps to safeguard the environment for generations to come. Tokayev indicated that Kazakh has the honor of being the first country in the area to ratify the Paris Agreement and create a plan for attaining carbon neutrality by 2060.
To him, Kazakhstan’s new Ecological Code encourages the widespread adoption of “green” technologies in all sectors of their national economy.
President emphasized Kazakhstan has a lot of potential for using wind and solar energy, and for producing “green” hydrogen. He said that we will continue to collaborate extensively with other states to maximize this potential.
“Kazakhstan is the world’s top exporter of uranium. At the same time, our country transports 43 percent of the world’s uranium. We play a key role in the global production of electricity without carbon waste,” Tokayev stated.
In the words of Tokayev, the most essential minerals, especially rare minerals, will become an irreplaceable resource in the next decade as the world decarbonizes. In this context, the Head of State declared that Kazakhstan is prepared to become the main provider of these minerals during the transitional phase.
Need to curtail impacts of climate change
Kazakh Premier said in general we anticipate that the international community will fulfill its commitment to increase funding for climate projects. However, finance is simply the starting point of the difficulties.
Although we have managed to restrict global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2050, Central Asian nations face a temperature rise of up to 2.5 degrees. According to the President, this causes water scarcity, extreme heat, desertification, and extreme hydrological phenomena.
The President stressed that lowering methane emissions is the most effective approach to prevent global warming. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev outlined the country’s decision to join the worldwide commitment to reduce the production of methane.
Furthermore, he added that Kazakhstan is attempting to tackle the region’s coal problem by executing the JETP Partnership Program and requested assistance for the country to continue this initiative.
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Kassym-Jomart Tokayev also urged the international community to contribute additional funding to the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea.
President pronounced that Kazakhstan will be leading the Foundation next year, and it intends to gather all partners to address this issue. Moreover, the first thematic summit named “One Water” will be conducted as part of the forthcoming meeting of the UN General Assembly. We are delighted to be co-chairing the event with France.
“We have decided to convene a Regional Climate Summit in Kazakhstan in 2026 within the UN framework to give new impetus to climate-related efforts in Central Asia”, Tokayev narrated in his speech at the global climate COP28 forum.
