The Astana International Financial Center has published the report "Emissions Trading Systems and the Voluntary Carbon Market: a Global overview and Prospects for Kazakhstan." The document describes important topics for building a "green" economy. This is stated in the AIFC report.
Greenhouse gas emissions trading systems in developed and industrialized developing countries operate on the basis of partial paid quota allocation. This makes it possible to set a market price for carbon.
Kazakhstan launched its own carbon unit trading system in 2013. It currently covers 47% of the emissions produced by 135 companies from the energy, mining and manufacturing sectors. All of them are subject to 100% free quota allocation, resulting in a low average carbon price. The price of one carbon unit in the TREASURY is approximately $1. At the same time, in a similar European system, the cost in 2023 reached $90. At the same time, carbon unit trading in Kazakhstan has been suspended since 2022.
The experts conducted an analysis of the effectiveness of Kazakhstan's carbon unit trading system. Based on it, the main barriers that hinder the effective functioning of the existing system were identified.
The report also contains recommendations for improving this system. These include the introduction of a paid distribution of carbon quotas, the expansion of opportunities for trading carbon units on different trading platforms, the expansion of coverage of ETS participants and the creation of a special carbon fund.
In addition, the experts described a vision for the development of the AIFC carbon platform for trading environmental instruments. The launch of a carbon credit trading platform has been identified as a medium-term goal. In the long term, it will be able to provide a platform for trading greenhouse gas emissions within the framework of the state. The AIFC carbon platform has the potential to expand and transform into a regional hub for the entire region of Central Asia and the Caucasus.
