From risks to opportunities: In Astana, a new economy of sustainable development in Central Asia was discussed

As part of the Regional Ecological Summit (RES), a key panel session “From climate risks to business opportunities: a new economy of sustainable development in Central Asia” was held. Participants of the discussion — representatives of international organizations, the public sector, and financial business — discussed the transformation of ecological challenges into investment drivers.
The panel session within the RES is aimed at promoting the principles of the United Nations Global Compact and searching for new models of economic growth capable of minimizing negative impact on the climate while maintaining the region’s high investment attractiveness.

Yerlik Karazhan, Head of the Project Office of the Central Asian Climate Fund (CACF), emphasized the need to integrate the climate agenda into the business strategies of companies in the region: 

“The approach we propose today is to understand how issues of climate risks and the ecological agenda are increasingly reflected in our strategy. In matters related to practice, especially when we face the reality of the regulatory agenda or what is happening in the world, difficulties often arise”, - noted Yerlik Karazhan.

The speaker paid special attention to the problem of “greenwashing” and the perception of the cost of ecological initiatives. According to him, the long-term benefits of sustainable projects outweigh the initial costs:

“In the absence of understanding what a green project is, we may accuse someone of greenwashing, while in other cases we can say that it is indeed a truly green company. In the short term, these projects are very unprofitable. But in the long term — the effect on health, the effect on the environment, and so on — this is precisely a very important project,” Mr. Karazhan added.

UN Resident Coordinator in Kazakhstan Sarangoo Radnaaragchaa noted that climate risk management in Kazakhstan and the region should be considered not just as an ecological issue, but as a core development priority affecting food and water security.

In turn, Chairperson of the Management Board of JSC “Halyk Bank of Kazakhstan” Umut Shayakhmetova proposed specific mechanisms to stimulate “green” financing. In particular, she put forward an initiative to create region-wide tax incentives for projects in the field of clean energy and water resources, which will attract private capital into long-term ecological initiatives.

The session participants agreed that the scale of climate challenges requires cross-border cooperation, as the region’s natural resources are interconnected, and the sustainability of Central Asia’s economy directly depends on the synergy of actions of all five states.