86% of random landfills eliminated in Kazakhstan — Serikkali Brekeshev

At the government session chaired by Prime Minister Askar Mamin, the Minister of Ecology, Geology and Natural Resources Serikkali Brekeshev made a report on ecology and environmental protection.

So, according to him, at present the issue of climate change on Earth is included in the category of global challenges facing the world community. For Kazakhstan, combating climate change is also a priority, since the effects of global warming are already being felt.

In 2016, countries signed the Paris Agreement to combat climate change. Its global goal is to contain the rise in global temperatures to within 1.5 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels.

“In turn, Kazakhstan intends to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 15% from 1990 levels by 2030. In 2019, national greenhouse gas emissions are 2.4% lower than the 1990 level,” said Brekeshev.

There are major trends in climate and environmental change in the world. Thus, large financial institutions have completely abandoned coal-related projects in favor of clean green technologies. There is a steady trend towards decarbonization of the world's large economies. The number of countries that have announced targets for carbon neutrality and, consequently, phasing out coal, is growing every year.

In addition, from 2026 the European Union plans to introduce a border carbon tax on imports of carbon-intensive products. Moreover, taking into account the carbon intensity of Kazakhstan's GDP, this tax will significantly affect the Kazakhstani economy.

In this regard, in order to implement the course declared by the Head of State to achieve carbon neutrality, a draft carbon neutrality strategy until 2060 was developed.

Two scenarios were developed: baseline and carbon neutrality. According to preliminary calculations, the implementation of the carbon neutral scenario will reduce emissions by 98% by 2060. Strategy development work continues.

“We also completed work on updating the Nationally Determined Contributions to achieve the goal of the Paris Agreement. A roadmap of measures has been developed, including measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions for all major sectors. The document is being coordinated by government agencies. We will be able to solve the issues of climate change and achieving carbon neutrality through elimination of environmental problems,” said the minister.

The main environmental problems in Kazakhstan are air pollution, surface water pollution and an imperfect waste management system. Thus, according to the monitoring of atmospheric air, 10 of 45 industrial cities refer to a high level of atmospheric air pollution. These are the cities of Nur-Sultan, Almaty, Karaganda, Temirtau, Atyrau, Aktobe, Balkhash, Ust-Kamenogorsk, Zhezkazgan and Shymkent.

The reasons for high pollution are deterioration of equipment, ineffectiveness of dust treatment facilities at factories, lack of modernization and reconstruction, and the use of coal.

In the field of waste management, there is an acute problem of inconsistency with the sanitary and environmental requirements of solid waste landfills, a low level of solid waste processing and spontaneous dumps.

“In general, the following has been done to improve the ecological situation in two years: a new Environmental Code was adopted, the national project Zhasyl Kazakhstan was approved. I would especially like to note that in order to reduce the negative consequences, norms on adaptation to climate change have been included in our national legislation. Also, Roadmaps were approved for the comprehensive solution of environmental problems in the regions. The ministry and enterprises have signed memorandums and road maps providing for a reduction in emissions from 20 to 30%,” the head of the department informed.

The analysis of the implementation of the Roadmaps conducted over 9 months of this year to improve the environmental situation showed that 59 or 62% of the 95 measures envisaged this year were implemented.

In particular, in the Atyrau region at the Atyrau Oil Refinery began reclamation of the Tukhlaya Balka evaporation pond. In the Mangystau region, reclamation work has begun to liquidate the Koshkar-Ata tailing dump.

Within the framework of the national project Zhasyl Kazakhstan, it is planned to reduce emissions by 16 enterprises by an average of 33%. 565 billion tenge of private investment will be allocated for this. However, in addition to this work, in 10 cities, according to the instructions of the Head of State, it is necessary to carry out work on gas supply or transfer to alternative energy sources, both of the private sector and economic entities, as well as on the transfer of public transport to gas or electric transport.

The Minister of Ecology reported on the work carried out to reduce emissions of large pollutants. Thus, the steel department of ArcelorMittal Temirtau plans to reduce emissions by 30% by replacing fuel with gas, and reconstructing electrostatic precipitators. Zhezkazgan and Balkhash copper smelting plants, Kazakhmys Smelting, are planning to build new sulfuric acid plants using advanced technologies. Ust-Kamenogorsk metallurgical plant, Kazzinc, provides for the replacement of heat exchangers of the sulfuric acid plant, which will reduce emissions by 21%. The Aktobe Ferroalloy Plant TNK Kazchrome has begun installing electrostatic precipitators, which will reduce emissions by 27%.

“A real opportunity to improve the ecological situation in the country is the introduction of the best available technologies in the industry. We have carried out a technological audit of 89 large companies. The results showed that enterprises in various industries are in varying degrees of readiness to switch to the best available technologies,” he said.

Selected industries investing in the implementation of the best available technologies over the past 10 years have shown a high level of implementation of scientific and technical documentation. However, there is a lag in the electric power industry, where the implementation rate is 34%, which is associated with high wear and tear of equipment.

Then Serikkali Brekeshev turned to the issues of waste management. To significantly reduce the volume of generated solid waste, the Waste to Energy mechanism has been introduced at the legislative level. 6 cities have been identified for the construction of waste incineration plants. The first auction was held, an investor was identified. Construction work will begin in 2022. Private investment will amount to 292 billion tenge. In turn, the state will provide the necessary infrastructure.

At the moment, 86% of the 7.3 thousand spontaneous landfills have been liquidated. At the same time, the indicators of the East Kazakhstan and Mangystau regions are lower than the national average.

Raid activities were carried out. About 17 thousand offenders were brought to justice, fines were imposed in the amount of 25 million tenge. In addition, work was carried out to strengthen the work of hot lines in the regions.

There are more than 3 thousand solid waste landfills in Kazakhstan, of which less than 20% comply with environmental and sanitary standards. This issue is especially acute in Pavlodar, West Kazakhstan and North Kazakhstan regions.

Since January of this year, a ban has been introduced on the disposal of construction waste at landfills. The norm was introduced back in 2016. Despite this, only 3 cities have sites for construction waste, namely in the years. Nur-Sultan, Almaty and Lisakovsk (Kostanay region).

In general, in order to streamline and control the activities of waste disposal organizations, the new Environmental Code provides for the introduction of a notification procedure. That is, without registration in the register of such entities and their special vehicles, the activity will be prohibited. Garbage collection organizations are obliged to install GPS sensors on vehicles and transmit full information about the movement of vehicles. Moreover, fines for violation of waste management requirements have been increased.

Work continues on planting more than 2 billion trees in the forest fund. Comprehensive plans for 5 years have been approved. An interactive map has been created to control and monitor forest reproduction. So, as of today, of the 129.7 million planned for this year, 89 million trees have been planted on an area of ​​24 thousand hectares.

Also, on behalf of the Head of State, we began the practical implementation of planting saxaul on the drained bottom of the Aral Sea on a total area of ​​1.1 million hectares. This year, saxaul will be sown on an area of ​​100 thousand hectares, in the next 4 years on an area of ​​250 thousand hectares annually.

It should be noted that, for the first time, it is planned to carry out aeroseeding of saxaul in Kazakhstan, using the positive experience of the Republic of Uzbekistan. The corresponding Roadmap for cooperation was signed.

Based on the above, in order to improve the ecological situation of the Ministry of Ecology, the following is proposed:

First. Interested government agencies and akimats should ensure the timely implementation of measures and indicators of the Zhasyl Kazakhstan national project and Roadmaps to improve the ecological situation in the regions.

Second. Akimats should ensure the complete elimination of spontaneous landfills, bring landfills in line with environmental and sanitary standards, and continue work on transferring public transport to gas and / or electric transport.

Third. The Ministry of Energy, together with akimats, will work out the issue of connecting the private sector and economic entities to gas or alternative energy sources in the 10 most polluted cities.

Further. Relevant government agencies to strengthen vehicle inspection and ensure quality control of fuels and lubricants.

Volume of gas burnt in flares decreased by 8 times compared to 2006 — Magzum Mirzagaliyev

Minister of Energy Magzum Mirzagaliyev reported on the work carried out by the ministry to improve ecology and environmental protection. Thus, by 2060, the republic must achieve carbon neutrality and ensure the fulfillment of its obligations under the Paris Agreement. These obligations require the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 15% by 2030 from the 1990 level.

In addition, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in his Address instructed to supply gas and transfer to alternative energy sources 10 of the most polluted cities. The Ministry is taking the following measures to implement these instructions:

  • a ban on gas flaring;
  • further gas supply of the country;
  • gas conversion of existing combined heat and power plants and implementation of the best available technologies at coal-fired plants in order to reduce pollutants;
  • development of renewable energy sources.

In order to improve the environmental situation, the Ministry of Ecology, Geology and Natural Resources has done a lot to improve the legal framework. The Code "On Subsoil and Subsoil Use" prohibits flaring of associated and natural gas. The law establishes the obligation of subsoil users to develop programs for the development of sour gas processing. Thanks to the work carried out, the volume of flared gas decreased by 8 times compared to 2006. If this figure in 2006 was 3.1 billion cubic meters, then in 2020 it was equal to 0.39 billion cubic meters.

“Gas supply to regions, along with ensuring a comfortable life, helps to improve the environmental situation. At present, the share of gas supply in the country is 54.3%. As a result, 10.2 million people got access to gas,” Mirzagaliyev said.

According to the election program of the Nur-Otan party, by 2025 the share of gasification of the population will reach 60%. As a result, 11.7 million people will have access to gas.

Within the framework of the Saryarka gas trunkline project, local executive bodies are building gas distribution networks. Completion of construction will provide gas for about 70 thousand houses previously heated on coal in Nur-Sultan, Karaganda, Temirtau, Zhezkazgan. In addition, 13 projects are being implemented in the Akmola region, as a result, 16 thousand houses will have access to gas.

To date, Petropavlovsk, Kokshetau, Ust-Kamenogorsk, Semey, Pavlodar have not been supplied with gas. At the same time, there are the following options for gas supply to these cities, namely:

- continuation of the Saryarka main gas pipeline

or

- construction of main gas pipelines from the Russian Federation.

“Until the end of this year, Gazprom and KazTransGas will carry out calculations for the gas supply to the northern and eastern regions and an acceptable option will be worked out," the head of the Ministry of Energy informed.

An important issue in improving the environmental situation is the conversion of existing combined heat and power plants to gas. It is also necessary to build new stations using clean sources of generation. In 2022, the projects of transferring CHPP-1 and CHPP-2 in Nur-Sultan to gas will be completed. In Almaty, work is underway to convert three CHPPs to gas. The total capacity will be 1,300 MW. Completion date — until 2026.

In addition, the issue of construction of combined cycle gas turbines in the south of the country with a capacity of 2,150 MW is being considered. At the same time, in the city of Temirtau, Karaganda region, work is underway to convert the stations ArcelorMittal Temirtau to gas. Also, in the medium term, it is planned to transfer from coal to gas large enterprises of the country in the mining sector.

Renewable energy sources are one of the tools for improving the environment. Currently, there are 126 RES facilities in the republic with an installed capacity of 1,975 MW. In 2021, it is forecasted that renewable energy facilities will generate about 4 billion kWh, which will amount to 3.5% of the total electricity production. Within 4 years, it is planned to commission 62 RES projects and large-scale RES projects with a capacity of 1 GW. As part of the implementation of these projects, about 1 trillion tenge of investments will be attracted. An additional 6 billion kWh of green energy will be generated.

The share of renewable energy sources by 2025 will be 6%, and by 2030 it will be at least 15%. Implementation of the above plans will make it possible to achieve the following changes in the structure of electricity generation:

- first, the share of coal generation will decrease from 70% to 40.3%;

- second, gas generation will increase from 20% to 38%;

- third, the share of renewable energy sources will increase from 3% to 15%.

Thus, the obligations to achieve the goals under the Paris Agreement will be fulfilled, and the foundation will be laid for further decarbonization and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060.

In Kazakhstan, owners of electric vehicles are exempted from paying transport tax — Kairbek Uskenbayev

Vice Minister of Industry and Infrastructure Development Kairbek Uskenbayev reported on the ongoing work to reduce emissions from vehicles and industrial enterprises. Thus, according to him, the ministry is actively involved in the implementation of the obligation of the Paris Agreement, stipulated in the draft Doctrine of Carbon Neutrality until 2060.

“A significant part of pollutants falls on the industry, namely the mining and metallurgical complex. The Ministry, together with 122 large and medium-sized enterprises, are taking measures to ensure the reduction of environmental emissions into the atmosphere. In particular, 18 operating enterprises of the mining and metallurgical industry, as well as the construction and chemical industries are included in the list of the country's 50 major pollutants of the first category. Relevant memorandums on emission reduction with specific indicators have been signed with these enterprises and their implementation has already begun,” Uskenbayev said.

Thus, at Kazzinc LLP due to the reconstruction and replacement of equipment parts for the neutralization system and the catch of the gas-air mixture in the departments of the sulfuric acid plant, an actual reduction of emissions by 53.3 tons was achieved. JSC Aluminum Kazakhstan adopted a strategy to reduce emissions. It is planned to invest 34 billion tenge with an indicator of emission reduction by 10 thousand tons. As a result, by 2030, indicators will be achieved up to the level of European standards.

In addition, ArcelorMittal Temirtau JSC has begun work on converting fuel oil, liquefied gas and solid fuel to natural gas, reconstruction of dust-cleaning equipment and treatment facilities, as well as the construction of electrostatic precipitators. In general, ArcelorMittal Temirtau plans to invest over $830 million in measures to improve the environmental situation.

As for new enterprises, it is planned to build 72 large enterprises by 2025, incl. 66 metallurgical, 3 chemical and 3 cement plants. A comprehensive environmental impact assessment will be carried out on these enterprises and their construction will be ensured using the best available technologies and compliance with all established environmental requirements.

In order to develop the production of environmentally friendly transport, domestic enterprises mastered the production of YUTONG and Golden Dragon electric buses in the years. Almaty and Saran, and electric car JAC iEV7s in Kostanay. In addition, from 2022, the production of electric vehicles Hyundai Ioniq, as well as KIA EV6 from 2023 will begin.

Nur-Sultan, Almaty and Pavlodar installed 110 electric charging stations. In order to stimulate the purchase of cars with electric traction, in Kazakhstan, owners of electric vehicles are exempted from paying transport tax.

In the transport industry, in order to reduce the impact of harmful emissions and improve the environmental situation, the Ministry has taken the following measures:

  • since 2018, the transition to the Euro-5 environmental standard has been carried out;
  • together with local executive bodies, work is underway to transfer all urban passenger transport to environmentally friendly fuels by 2030.
  • in order to ensure the normative technical condition of vehicles and compliance with the standards of emissions of harmful substances, work is underway to increase the responsibility of the Technical Inspection Centers and vehicle owners for fictitious technical inspection.

By 2025, all technical regulations will be brought in line with international standards. The measures taken will allow by 2030 to transfer at least 30% of freight and about 70% of light transport to environmentally friendly fuels.

In order to reduce emissions of pollutants from obsolete sewage treatment facilities, the Ministry is working on the preparation and implementation of projects for the construction and reconstruction of WWTP in 53 cities of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The preliminary cost of the implementation of all 53 projects will be about 516 billion tenge. Construction and reconstruction of the WWTP are also included in the Nur Otan party's electoral program "Path of change: a decent life for everyone!"

The implementation of projects is planned to start with 11 projects in 2022, 12 projects in 2023, 13 projects in 2024, in 2025 — 17 projects.

“The implementation of the announced measures will have a favorable effect on the environmental situation in the country and will help to deepen green technologies in the sectors of the economy supervised by the Ministry and will contribute to the implementation of the strategic goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2060,” Kairbek Uskenbayev said in conclusion.

More than 7,618 farms in Kazakhstan use solar panels — Aidarbek Saparov

The volume of agricultural production by 2030 will amount to 15 trillion tenge. First Vice Minister of Agriculture Aidarbek Saparov shared these forecasts. According to him, this could cause changes in the environment, affect the availability of water resources and land degradation.

“Today, agriculture accounts for 9.1% of all greenhouse gas emissions, of which the share of livestock is 62%. The main factor in minimizing these risks is green technologies and sustainable production, including effective resource management,” he said.

So, in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions within the framework of the National Project of the AIC and the draft Concept for the Development of the AIC until 2030, the following measures are envisaged:

- in animal husbandry, to reduce methane emissions, 25% of the cost of equipment for processing manure and poultry droppings is subsidized.

- in crop production, the diversification of the structure of sown areas will be continued in order to reduce the areas of water-intensive crops.

Measures are also being taken to introduce modern digital technologies, use the results of space monitoring and remote sensing of lands.

In order to comply with agricultural technologies, support is provided for the acquisition of modern varieties of seeds and planting material, as well as fertilizers and biological plant protection products. At the same time, within the framework of the Concept for the development of the agro-industrial complex, reimbursement of the costs of agricultural producers in the acquisition of organic fertilizers will be provided. For the technical equipment of the industry, large-scale implementation of subsidy programs for the acquisition of agricultural machinery, preferential leasing, as well as the development of domestic agricultural machinery will be continued.

Measures are also being taken to develop irrigated agriculture by introducing water-saving technologies, as well as improving the material and technical base of irrigation and drainage services and expanding their area of ​​activity. At the same time, investment subsidies are provided for up to 50% of the cost of purchasing modern irrigation systems.

Currently, the country already has a number of successful examples of agricultural producers using livestock waste processing facilities. These are 9 poultry farms, 7 pig farms, 8 dairy farms. At the same time, due to the provision of state support measures, by 2030 it is planned to increase the number of poultry farms using waste processing plants up to 20 units, pig farms up to 15, dairy farms up to 40.

In order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural producers, it is observed interest in the use of renewable energy sources. So, according to the regional akimats, more than 7,618 farms use solar panels, 33 farms use wind generators. At the same time, due to the implementation of investment subsidy measures, by 2030 it is planned to increase the number of farms using solar panels up to 27,000, and wind generators — up to 50.

The use of renewable energy sources not only creates an infrastructure for irrigation of pastures and provides water to farms, but also by saving fuel and electricity, it saves financial resources of agricultural producers.

At the same time, the implementation of the World Bank's Sustainable Livestock Development Program has begun, which involves the application of the principles of green growth in the livestock sector. The program involves reducing greenhouse gas emissions from beef production, incl. emissions of such sources as: intestinal fermentation, cleaning, storage and use of manure, production of feed.

In 2020, together with the Ministry of Ecology, a Roadmap was approved to improve the environmental situation of the Aktobe region, which includes 33 measures. To date, 26 permanent measures are at the stage of execution, 3 measures have been completed in full. This was announced by the akim of Aktobe region Ondasyn Urazalin.

As a result of the analysis, the following factors have been identified that have a significant impact on air pollution:

  • emissions from industrial enterprises;
  • smoke from vehicles;
  • emissions of hydrogen sulphide into the sewer system.

Incl. the implementation of the project of modernization and reconstruction of the shops of the Aktobe Ferroalloy Plant and the Aktobe Chromium Compounds Plant was launched, which will have a significant impact on improving the environmental situation in the region. In addition, today the appropriate infrastructure has been created to convert vehicles to gas fuel, currently 26% of registered vehicles in the field are running on gas. All vehicles of budgetary organizations and more than 60% of public transport have been converted to gas fuel.

“To eliminate hydrogen sulfide emissions from the city's sewage system, coal filter systems have been installed at 11 main sewage pumping stations over the past two years, desulfurization catalysts are used at 6 sewage pumping stations. As a result, according to the Kazhydromet enterprise, the high level of air pollution over the past 5 years has decreased by 18 times,” the regional akim informed.

One of the pressing issues is the disposal of solid household waste. Today in the regional center there are 5 collection points for recyclable materials and a waste sorting complex. As a result of the work carried out with Operator ROP LLP for the implementation of a pilot project for the implementation of the separate collection of solid household waste in 2021, 681 containers for the separate collection of waste and 6 units of special equipment  were purchased.

In addition, the construction of a plant for energy waste disposal is being worked out, for which a land plot and a point of connection to electricity have been determined.

Until the end of this year, construction of a solid waste landfill meeting environmental requirements will be completed in 3 district centers; landfill construction projects are being prepared in 2 more districts. Out of 444 spontaneous dumps identified by the institution of Kazakhstan Garysh Sapary, 388 were eliminated, for the rest 56 measures will be taken in the near future.

“On planting green spaces. According to the plan for the next 5 years, the planting of 60.2 million pieces is fixed on the lands of the state forest fund. seedlings on an area of ​​30,744 hectares. Currently, 2.1 million pieces have been planted on an area of ​​1,181 hectares. saplings, that is, the plan approved for this year has been fully implemented,” Urazalin said.

In addition, in 2020-2021. the material and technical base of forestry institutions was strengthened by 687 million tenge. As a result, compared to last year, the area of ​​forest nurseries has increased by 2.5 times.

According to the plan, this year 52,441 seedlings have been planted in the settlements of the region, green zones have been created on an area of ​​240 hectares.

According to the Akim of the Karaganda region Zhenis Kassymbek, there are about 4 thousand enterprises in the region that annually emit about 600 thousand tons of pollutants into the atmosphere. Of these, 90% of emissions are from 17 large industrial enterprises of the first category.

“With regard to improving the quality of atmospheric air. The volume of emissions for 6 months of this year amounted to 303 thousand tons, 80% - this is the issue of ArcelorMittal Temirtau and enterprises Kazakhmys Holding” said Kassymbek.

The regional akimat with the Ministry of Ecology approved the Roadmap for the comprehensive solution of environmental problems for 2020-2024. The progress of the Roadmap implementation is systematically reviewed with all industrial enterprises, together with the Ministry of Ecology.

In the city of Temirtau, the volume of emissions for 6 months of this year amounted to 122 thousand tons, of which 89% falls on Arselormittal Temirtau. According to AMT, 22 environmental measures are provided for a total amount of 140 billion tenge to reduce emissions by 65 thousand tons or by 30% by 2025.

In the city of Zhezkazgan: the volume of emissions from Kazakhmys Holding for the first half of this year. amounted to 28.2 thousand tons, for the same period last year — 30.1 thousand tons. By 2025, it is planned to reduce emissions by 20 thousand tons or 8.5%.

The volume of emissions by the enterprises of the city of Balkhash for the first half of this year amounted to 28 thousand tons, for the same period last year — 36.6 thousand tons.

ArcelorMittal Temirtau JSC, the Ministry of Energy and KazTransGas JSC signed a memorandum on the supply of natural gas in the amount of 300 million cubic meters per year. Completion of the AMT gasification project will ensure a 28.8% reduction in emissions into the surrounding atmosphere. A point of connection to a gas pipeline for a metallurgical plant was issued for Corporation Kazakhmys LLP, design work is underway.

Also, construction of gas distribution networks is underway in the years. Karaganda, Temirtau and Zhezkazgan with the ability to connect about 4 thousand houses. This will have a significant effect on improving the ecology of the region.

In this year space monitoring revealed 1,360 unauthorized dumps, of which 1,339 have been liquidated to date.

Landscaping is one of the important areas. In this year on the territory of the state forest fund, forest cultures were planted on an area of ​​445 hectares in the amount of 1.7 million pieces. seedlings. The landing of 100 million seedlings is planned for 5 years on an area of ​​22,500 hectares.

In connection with the introduction of the new Environmental Code, an Action Plan for Environmental Protection for 2022-2024 with a financing amount of 54 billion tenge has been developed.

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