OREANDA-NEWS. May 29, 2013. The EBRD welcomes the drive by the leadership of Kazakhstan to turn the country’s economy green, EBRD President, Sir Suma Chakrabarti, has said in Almaty.

He welcomed the statement by the President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, who said during the Astana Economic Forum that the environment is now one of the main priorities in the country, together with economy and innovation. President Nazarbayev also added that Kazakhstan will spend about 2 per cent of its GDP on green energy projects.

“The EBRD welcomes the Kazakh government's drive for the green economy, and we will consider supporting it with investments in the private and municipal sectors. Just yesterday I signed an energy efficiency project with CAEPCO, a private energy operator, for EUR106 million. Kazakhstan was the first EBRD country to sign up to our Sustainable Energy Action Plan; we have just signed an agreement with the government to step up efforts in the solid waste and the water management sector; and we look forward to finding new, innovative projects that will help the Kazakh economy go greener," said President Suma Chakrabarti.

The EBRD has already invested over USD 650 million in energy efficiency projects in Kazakhstan in corporate energy efficiency, credit lines to partner banks for on-lending to the private sector, cleaner energy production, renewable energy, and municipal infrastructure energy efficiency.

Energy savings from projects financed by the EBRD so far amount to about 10 per cent of the country’s use of electricity. As a result of these projects, Kazakhstan reduced its greenhouse gas emissions reductions amount by 3,885 kilotonnes per year.