BAKU, Azerbaijan, Nov.18
By Nargiz Sadikhova - Trend:
Green Climate Fund (GCF) aims to help Kazakhstan realize its ambitions in tackling its climate change challenges by supporting the most important priorities identified in Kazakhstan’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), National Adaptation Planning (NAP) or others low-emission, climate resilient development strategies and plans, including developing such plans, a representative of GCF told Trend.
According to the representative, the short-term planned GCF's activities in Kazakhstan include:
- The development of a National Adaptation Planning proposal with United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
- Development of a project to build climate resilience of grain farming in the northern part of the country, climate adaptation through ecosystem services, and high-impact climate technologies.
“Kazakhstan is one of the countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA) region which has focused on strategic planning to access GCF climate financing,” the official said.
He noted that the Country Program, which is being finalized by the government, is based on country strategies and policies, and is aligned with the country’s priorities in the areas of climate change, energy and agriculture.
“GCF supports the implementation and ambition cycle of Kazakhstan’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), as well as development and implementation of adaptation plans and planning processes. Kazakhstan is one of the countries in the region that the GCF has been engaging intensively in 2019 and working through the Department of “Green Economy” of the Ministry of Energy who is the GCF’s NDA (National Designated Authority)/ focal point in the country to finalize Kazakhstan’s Country Program,” the official said.
According to him, to date, Kazakhstan has nominated two organizations to become accredited as Direct Access Entities (DAEs) to GCF. One of the entities is receiving pre-accreditation Readiness Support from GCF which is aimed at identifying institutional gaps and developing an action plan to meet GCF’s accreditation requirements.
“The first GCF Readiness Support in the country was in August 2017, with UNDP as a delivery partner. It was to establish a coordination mechanism, develop the country program, and facilitate private sector engagement,” the representative said.
Furthermore, talking about GCF’s projects in Kazakhstan, there is number of them being implemented however, they are in the early stages of implementation.
“GCF has an ongoing project with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development with a total project investment of $557 million, including GCF financing of $110 million – of which $89.7 million has already been disbursed,” the official said.
Approved in 2017, GCF-EBRD Kazakhstan Renewables Framework oversees supporting the construction of 8-11 renewable energy projects in Kazakhstan, with a total capacity of 330 MW. The project has an estimated lifespan of 20 years.
Set up by the 194 countries who are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2010, GCF is a global fund created to support the efforts of developing countries to respond to the challenge of climate change.
GCF helps developing countries limit or reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change. It seeks to promote a paradigm shift to low-emission and climate-resilient development, taking into account the needs of nations that are particularly vulnerable to climate change impacts.
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