Addressing Industrial Air Pollution in Kazakhstan
Reforming Environmental Payments Policy Guidelines
Kazakhstan has recorded impressive economic growth rates since its independence, driven
mainly by export of commodities and high rate of energy use. These rates are not sustainable
and are generating significant air pollution, in particular from industrial stationary
sources. This is putting at risk the country’s development ambitions to become one
of the top global economies by 2050 and converge towards OECD living standards. Building
on OECD previous analysis, this publication shows that Kazakhstan’s environmental
payments (environmentally related taxes, non-compliance penalties and compensation
for damage regulation) for industrial air pollutants, as currently applied, impede
energy efficiency and pollution abatement with heavy-handed non-compliance responses
and focus on rising revenues. They also add to the cost of doing businesses in the
country with limited environmental benefit. In the spirit of the Polluter-Pays Principle,
much more reforms of regulation of environmental payments are needed. This report
provides guidelines for reform drawing from air pollution regulations in OECD member
countries and the results of the analysis of the system in Kazakhstan carried out
by the OECD in close co-operation with the Government of Kazakhstan.
Published on July 30, 2019Also available in: Russian
In series:OECD Green Growth Studiesview more titles