ADB to help Kazakhstan move towards early coal retirement

• a month ago (2024-11-14)
• David Flin

Asia 897 Coal 299 Renewables 780

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The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of Kazakhstan have signed an MOU regarding the early retirement of a coal-fired power plant in the country under the ADB’s Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM) programme.

The MOU states that the two sides will work towards a pilot transaction that demonstrates a pathway to significantly reduce the country’s greenhouse gas emissions, through decommissioning or repurposing a pilot coal-fired plant for renewables. A feasibility study will determine which plant would be the most viable for early retirement.

Yevgeniy Zhukov, ADB Director General for Central and West Asia, said: “Keeping 1.5 degrees alive means moving away from fossil fuels and toward clean energy as quickly as possible – and ADB’s ETM programme aims to do that in a way that considers each country’s energy and socioeconomic development needs. As Asia and the Pacific’s climate bank, we are committed to helping Kazakhstan decarbonise its economy in a way that is just and inclusive, and we aim to demonstrate how the clean energy transition can be accelerated in Central Asia.”