Kazakhstan starts working on hydrogen roadmap

Kazakhstan has started formulating a concept of low carbon development policy which will be completed in June 2021. The policy roadmap would aim to make Kazakhstan carbon neutral by 2060, Kazakhstan’s Minister of Ecology, Geology and Natural Resources, Magzum Mirzagaliyev told a press conference.

The minister pointed out that the EU is going to impose carbon tax imports from high-emission countries. He said that to keep our products competitive in the EU market, we have to reduce carbon emissions and adopt new environmental code.

According to the new code, the minister mentioned that the 50 largest companies, which account for 80% of the country emissions, will replace their old technologies with the best available technologies (BATs) by 2025. BATs worked in Europe and had reduced emissions by 94% over 15 years. Those companies implementing BATs would be exempted from emission charges, while violators would face emission charges.

Kazakhstan works on renewable energy projects will also underpin the developments of more advanced technologies such as carbon capture and storage and hydrogen energy. Hydrogen has now become a crucial part in refineries and petrochemical facilities in the CIS. Kazakhstan has now increased its investment in solar and wind farms will play a key role in various types of hydrogen.