ESG Investment Forum as a dialogue platform for alternative methods of combating climate change
On 3 October 2022 an International Inaugural Dialogue “Scaling up climate action in Eurasia: Carbon farming and trading” was held during the ESG Investment Forum as part of the annual conference World Investor Week, to discuss the prospects for trading in agricultural climate project-based offsets and carbon farming.
The Forum’s flagship event was organised by the BRICS Competition Law and Policy Centre of the National Research University Higher School of Economics with the support of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA, Austria), the TALAP Centre for Applied Research (Kazakhstan), the National ESG Club of Kazakhstan and the AIFC Green Finance Centre and featured a world-renowned scientist in climate change economics – Michael Obersteiner, Director of the Institute for Environmental Change at the University of Oxford and Chief Scientist of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA).
The dialogue was opened by Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Trade and Integration Serik Zhumangarin, who noted that the AIFC platform has all the opportunities to launch the carbon units trading market, based on the best practices. According to the Deputy Prime Minister, Kazakh companies, including those subjected to carbon quotas, have the opportunity to take into account offsets purchased on the market for climate projects implemented in Kazakhstan without restrictions. Chairman of the National ESG Club and CEO of the AIFC Green Finance Centre Aidar Kazybayev noted that Kazakhstan intends to make of use of international mechanisms and instruments of international carbon markets available, emphasizing the possibilities of the AIFC platform, including initiatives under the common climate agenda of Eurasian countries.
Following the event, the BRICS Competition Law and Policy Centre of the National Research University Higher School of Economics expressed its readiness to support the AIFC Green Finance Centre in creating a carbon offset market and forming a database for climate projects in Kazakhstan.
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The National ESG Club was established within the framework of Astana Finance Days 2022 on July 28, 2022 and united 19 companies that are leaders of ESG transformation in their industries. Today, the Club includes more than 30 companies.
The Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) is an independent jurisdiction that started operations in 2018. In accordance with the Development Strategy until 2025, the key focus of the AIFC is to consolidate as a universal platform connecting the countries of the EAEU, Central Asia and the Caucasus. www.aifc.kz
The AIFC Green Finance Centre is a subsidiary organisation of the AIFC Authority and the Eurasian Development Bank, aimed at introduction and development of sustainable finance instruments and attracting of investments in environmental and social projects in Kazakhstan and Central Asia.
The AIFC Green Finance Centre supported the very first issuance of green bonds and first verified green loan in Kazakhstan. Also, the Centre introduced definitions of green finance and green taxonomy (a classifier of economic activities and projects that meet technical selection criteria) in the national environmental legislation. The new legislation provides incentives for entrepreneurs who use green finance instruments www.gfc.aifc.kz
