The International Business Council (IBC) held a regional forum ‘Central Asian Dialogue on Promoting Green Practices’.

The forum was held in the format of panel discussions with the participation of representatives of government agencies and experts from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, as well as with representatives of the private sector from various sectors of the economy. A wide range of highly qualified experts from major consulting companies, international organisations, academia, banking and manufacturing sectors were represented at the event.

The forum was attended by Daniyar Amangeldiev, First Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Kyrgyz Republic, Dinara Ashimova, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources, Environment and Technical Supervision of the Kyrgyz Republic, Asel Raimkulova, Deputy Director of the PeaceNexus Foundation Mads Freelander.

Among the key speakers of the forum are representatives of Boston Consulting Group (Uzbekistan), Ernst & Young (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), SGS (Kazakhstan), PepsiCo, University of Central Asia (Kazakhstan), Eldik Bank (Kyrgyzstan), ESG Central Asia and others.

In his speech at the forum, Daniyar Amangeldiev, First Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Kyrgyz Republic, spoke about the existing measures to support green practices, emphasising that ‘promotion of green economy is not just a trend, it is a strategic choice of the country’. A new sustainable development programme is being prepared, and a concept of extended producer responsibility has been developed, which involves ‘returning’ waste to the economic cycle.

The country has fiscal, customs and administrative incentives to promote green initiatives, including exemption from customs duties on imports of equipment for RES projects, quotas for duty-free imports of electric vehicles.

«As representatives of the business community, we always try to promote economic incentives that encourage companies to apply modern technologies. So it is in the green economy - for many years we have been researching international practices and promoting legislative incentives for the application and development of green technologies not only in Kyrgyzstan, but also in Central Asia», — said Askar Sydykov, Executive Director of MDS.

Participants of the panel sessions discussed the most important topics for the region.
‘The evidence shows: when businesses, governments and civil society work together through platforms such as the Central Asia Green Incentives Platform, we can make tangible progress in both environmental protection and regional co-operation,’ said Mads Freelander, Deputy Director of the PeaceNexus Foundation.

Over the past two years, the Central Asia Green Incentives Platform (CAGIP) has been formed, bringing together representatives of the business, civil, scientific communities of the countries in the region, with whom the MDS is jointly exploring legislative incentives for a green economy, and relevant proposals are being submitted to government agencies in the region.

«Many of these proposals have already been taken into account, for which the business community expresses its gratitude to the Cabinet of Ministers, the Ministry of Economy and Commerce and the Ministry of Natural Resources, Environment and Technical Supervision of the Kyrgyz Republic», — said the head of the MDS.

Forum participants shared experiences, achievements and opportunities to promote green incentives in Central Asia. Experts from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan presented the results of their work in this area.

One of the panel sessions of the forum was devoted to the development of the carbon market and climate policy of the countries of the region.

The participants discussed the draft law ‘On Climate Action’, which was presented by Dinara Ashimova, deputy of the Jogorku Kenesh of the Kyrgyz Republic, leader of the ‘Yiman Nuru’ faction. The current law in this area is outdated, and based on international and national experience, a draft law has been formed and submitted for public discussion.

The Kyrgyz parliament is actively involved in green and climate issues. Perhaps an environmental committee should already be created in the Jogorku Kenesh, Dinara Ashimova suggested.

The approach based on encouraging environmental solutions has demonstrated its effectiveness in a number of sectors of the Kyrgyz economy and can be scaled up at the regional level, said Asel Raimkulova, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources, Environment and Technical Supervision.

Of particular importance is the topic of carbon market, accounting and regulation of emissions.

The forum participants also discussed the challenges and prospects of applying ESG (environmental, social, governance) principles in Central Asian countries and the role of the banking sector in supporting green initiatives.  For example, the National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic approved a roadmap for the development of sustainable finance and implementation of ESG principles in the banking sector of the Kyrgyz Republic for 2024-2026. ‘Eldik Bank’ and more than 15 banks of the KR are implementing the principles of sustainable development.

Experts from Kazakhstan spoke about the best global practices of carbon regulation and the possibility of their application in the conditions of Kazakhstan.

According to experts from Uzbekistan, ESG perspectives of the country include actively developing regulatory system and legal framework, attracting financing to support ESG-initiatives, as well as ESG-transformation of manufacturing companies and industrial zones.

An expert from Boston Consulting Group (BCG) presented a global perspective on green development and spoke about opportunities and risks for Central Asia. BCG (Boston Consulting Group) is an international company specialising in management consulting and is one of the ‘big three management consulting firms’ along with McKinsey and Bain & Company).

According to BCG research, 88 per cent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions come from five sectors, including chemicals, cement, iron and steel.

In today's environment, it is important for companies to comply with sustainability requirements in order to enter foreign markets, according to a study by SGS, Kazakhstan.
Recently, the view of consumers, who are willing to overpay for environmentally friendly products, has also been changing. This was stated by more than 80% of consumers surveyed by PwC. 

According to PepsiCo, the Central Asian consumer is changing - 60% of Gen Z consumers (younger generation) are willing to pay more for sustainable products.