Description

Central Asia is a region with vast fossil and renewable energy resources. During the Soviet era, the Central Asian countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan heavily relied on development of fossil fuels, specifically coal and oil and gas, for their energy needs. 

Unsurprisingly, global methane data indicate that the countries of Central Asia substantially contribute to global methane emissions. There is therefore a need for the region to curb the waste of methane as valuable commodity and to reduce the impact of the fossil sector on climate, while transitioning to cleaner energy sources.

To enable action at a regional scale in Central Asia, regulators need to develop policies that support methane emission reductions, collaborate across countries and engage in regional dialogue to share experiences, harmonize regulation, and ensure institutional capacity raises to meet the demands of climate mitigation and clean energy systems of the future.

In this session regulators and power system stakeholders were invited to discuss options for methane policies, learn from case studies in other countries, and discuss opportunities for success in the national context. 

Logistics

The event constituted a part of the 3rd Almaty Energy Forum and took place at the Almaty at Kazakh British Technical University (KBTU) .