KAZAKHSTAN Law and Practice Contributed by: Timur Odilov, Mikhail Abdulov, Olzhas Abubakirov and Alnur Dauylbay, Haller Lomax LLP
of schools, hospitals and various other infrastructure projects within communities near their mine sites. Examples of negative impacts are typically linked to pollution or the damage of natural resources, resulting in environmental degradation and adverse effects on the health and livelihoods of local residents. In addi - tion, unsatisfactory labour practices, such as low wages and lack of safety compliance, contribute to these negative impacts. 3. Climate Change, Energy Transition and Sustainable Development in Mining 3.1 Climate Change Effects General provisions regarding climate change are contained in the Environmental Code. Additionally, in response to the tangible threats of climate change, the President of Kazakhstan has signed the Strategy for Achieving Hydrocarbon Neutrality in the Republic of Kazakhstan by 2060. Kazakhstan has also ratified the following international treaties on climate change: • the Paris Climate Agreement; • the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution; • the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer; and • the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Frame - work Convention on Climate Change. By 31 December 2030, Kazakhstan aims to reduce its carbon balance by at least 15% from the 1990 level, and it is committed to achieving hydrocarbon neutral - ity by 2060. In addition, in order to reduce greenhouse gas emis - sions, the Environmental Code establishes carbon quotas for carbon dioxide emissions. In simple terms, hydrocarbon quotas mean the volumes of free carbon units distributed by the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources based on the benchmarking meth - odology. Installations in the sectors of electricity, oil and gas, mining, the metallurgical and chemical indus -
tries, as well as manufacturing industries in terms of the production of cement, lime, gypsum and bricks, are subject to carbon quotas if they emit more than 20,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. There are no specific climate change programmes or requirements for the mining sector. 3.2 Climate Change Legislation and Proposals Related to Mining Please refer to 3.1 Climate Change Effects . 3.3 Sustainable Development Initiatives Related to Mining In 2013, the President of Kazakhstan adopted the concept of the country’s transition to the Green Econ - omy (“the Concept”) in order to ensure the sustainable development of the country and that it becomes one of the 30 most developed countries in the world by 2050. It assumes that the transition will require annual investments of about 4.4% of Kazakhstan’s GDP (or USD15 billion). The priority tasks of the Concept are: • improving the efficiency of resource use; • modernisation of existing infrastructure and con - struction of new infrastructure; • improving the well-being of the population and the quality of the environment through cost-effective measures to reduce pressure on the environment; and • improving national security, including water secu - rity. The threat of water scarcity and the inefficient man - agement of water resources can be major obstacles to sustainable economic growth and social develop - ment in Kazakhstan. According to the Concept, the following projects are necessary in order to achieve national security: • the construction of reservoirs including reservoirs to capture water run-off during floods; • the development of measures to reduce water losses during transportation across all types of economic activities;
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