Bank-supported Yereymentau project first under emissions trading system. The Yereymentau Wind Farm in Kazakhstan, a long-standing partner of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, EBRD, has been registered as a domestic carbon credit project under the country’s emissions trading system (ETS).
Once up and running, the EBRD-sponsored project will be able to monetise emission reductions by selling carbon credits to operators under the Kazakhstani Emissions Trading Scheme for compliance purposes.
Established in 2013 as a pilot programme, Kazakhstan’s ETS aimed to establish a national market mechanism for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The same year the Kazakh parliament passed a renewable energy law, introducing feed-in-tariffs for electricity produced by renewable energy sources.
The EBRD subsequently agreed to finance the first large-scale renewable energy project in the country in 2014, the 50 MW wind power plant in Yereymentau, central Kazakhstan.
Both steps paved the way for the development of carbon pricing and the promotion of the government’s green agenda in the run-up to the 2015 Paris climate conference.
Adapting the ETS to new challenges, the Kazakh authorities have revised the emissions trading scheme and introduced stricter regulations for the biggest CO2 emitters. The EBRD has supported the registration of the Yereymentau wind farm through the Carbon Project and Asset Development Facility, which is funded by the Bank’s Shareholder Special Fund.
Jan-Willem van de Ven, EBRD Head of Climate Finance and Carbon Markets, praised the latest developments and said: “This is a big achievement for the EBRD and for the development of Kazakhstan’s carbon market. By pricing carbon for emitters, and creating new revenues for investments in renewable energy this market can accelerate its development to low carbon. As a pioneer in this area the EBRD now hopes trading volumes will pick up, moving Kazakhstan’s green economy agenda ahead.”
The EBRD is the largest renewable energy financier in Kazakhstan with nearly €1.7 billion invested in green projects under its Green Economy Transition (GET) approach. The Bank is also the largest institutional investor in the country with more than €7.3 billion invested in various sectors of Kazakhstan’s economy, with a focus on the non-oil and gas sectors.