Green Finance And Investment Measuring Green Finance Flows In Kazakhstan

This report examines how Kazakhstan’s national statistical system works and how it can be further improved to better measure and understand financial flows that contribute to a green economy transition. The analysis also builds on a range of relevant international and national initiatives on sustainable finance.

Credible statistical information can serve as a powerful tool for the Republic of Kazakhstan to plan for, and monitor progress on, its transition to a green economy. While available data by Kazakhstan's Committee on Statistics already provide some useful information (e.g. investment and operational expenditures as a share of GDP are 0.2% and 0.4% respectively, which remain low), further improvement in coverage, granularity and quality of statistical information can better inform policy-making on green economy transition. This report examines how Kazakhstan's national statistical system works and how it can be further improved to better measure and understand financial flows that contribute to a green economy transition. The analysis also builds on a range of relevant international and national initiatives on sustainable finance.

Credible statistical information can serve as a powerful tool for the Republic of Kazakhstan to plan for, and monitor progress on, its transition to a green economy. While available data by Kazakhstan's Committee on Statistics already provide some useful information (e.g. investment and operational expenditures as a share of GDP are 0.2% and 0.4% respectively, which remain low), further improvement in coverage, granularity and quality of statistical information can better inform policy-making on green economy transition. This report examines how Kazakhstan's national statistical system works and how it can be further improved to better measure and understand financial flows that contribute to a green economy transition. The analysis also builds on a range of relevant international and national initiatives on sustainable finance.

This report presents findings from a survey on green finance conducted among 1 000 households in the Kyrgyz Republic (Kyrgyzstan) in 2019. Although green finance is an emerging trend, knowledge about the appetite for green financial products and services in Kyrgyzstan is almost inexistent.

A large financing need challenges climate-adjusted infrastructure in developing Asia, estimated at $26 trillion till 2030. This necessitates crowding-in private sources to meet financing, efficiency, and technology gaps. However, a lack of bankable projects is a major hurdle. This publication suggests one possible innovative financing approach. The Green Finance Catalyzing Facility (GFCF) proposes a blended finance framework for governments and development entities to better leverage development funds for risk mitigation, generate a pipeline of bankable green infrastructure projects, and directly catalyze private finance. The GFCF provides useful inputs for the current debate on mainstreaming green finance into country financial systems.

Meeting the 2030 Agenda requires unprecedented investment from different sources of finance, ambitious strategies, and structural reform. In recent years, total available development finance in Kazakhstan stagnated and decreased significantly as a share of gross domestic product. This publication presents a comprehensive analysis of trends in public and private finance, along with existing policies and partnerships in place. It discusses the feasibility for Kazakhstan to establish a financing mechanism to maximize development finance and resource allocation to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

The financial sectors of the Middle East and Central Asia (ME&CA) countries should play an important role in supporting climate-related policies for the region. The sectors are vulnerable to downside risks from climate-related shocks and at the same time offer the potential to help fill the financing gap for needed adaptation and mitigation strategies. Successful approaches to climate change in the region therefore need to coherently integrate financial sector strategies within the overall policy framework to meet this important challenge. To this end, policymakers must ensure that financial sectors are prepared for a green future. This means enhancing the resilience of banks to physical and transition risks from climate change and boosting the capacity of insurance sectors to speed recovery from climate-related disasters and help offset economic costs. Moreover, policies are needed to foster an enabling environment for private green finance, attract investment from other official entities, such as sovereign wealth funds (SWF), and facilitate support from international financial institutions and multilateral development banks. In the near term, policy efforts should center around better understanding and measuring climate-related risks. This includes prioritizing the implementation of methodologies for quantifying and reporting such risks, promoting their transparent disclosure by financial institutions, and strengthening frameworks for their forecasting and analyzing. Over the medium term, governments can play an important role in supporting green finance through incentives and market mechanisms, phasing-out energy subsidies, and introducing new tools and markets (such as carbon pricing frameworks), which can stimulate demand for investment in green technologies. The paper offers a unique regional perspective on climate risks in ME&CA's financial sectors and outlines the road ahead in transitioning to a green future. It is the first to evaluate the impact of climate change on banking institutions in the region and assess the capacity of insurance in mitigating climate-related damages and losses. It contributes to the existing literature by synthesizing the size and nature of regional financing needs for adaptation and mitigation and discussing both opportunities and challenges for the development of green finance. The paper's policy recommendations provide guidance to policymakers on how to develop regulatory responses to enhance financial sustainability amid climate change risks.

This publication explores the current market and institutional set-up in Uzbekistan, the reforms that have led to recent issuances of both sovereign and corporate thematic bonds, and the remaining barriers to further uptake of the instrument.