Source: Central Communications Service for the President of Kazakhstan

Zhambyl region is one of the leaders among Kazakhstan’s regions on priority areas of the development of “green economy”. Such a statement was made by the region’s Mayor Karim Kokrekbayev during the press conference in Central Communications Service under the President of Kazakhstan.

“Seven objects of renewable energy sources (RES) with a total capacity of 86 MW were commissioned in the region. On July 2, during the teleconference the Head of State launched the solar power plant “Burnoye Solar 1” with design capacity of 50 MW and a total value of 23.2 billion tenge,” said the speaker.

This project is implemented with the participation of three companies: “SEBC Taraz”, “Samruk-Kazyna Invest” LLP and “United GreenEnergyLimited” (the United Kingdom).

According to the words of Karim Kokrekbayev, in the next three years it is planned the construction of RES with a total capacity of over 500 MW. The implementation of all projects will enable to cover 40-50% of the region’s electricity needs.

Source: RUSHINCRASH

All 196 representatives of member countries of the global climate summit in Paris after two weeks of negotiations approved a new framework agreement the United Nations which determines the rate of greenhouse gas emissions after 2020 and measures to prevent climate change. His signing will be held on April 22 2016 at UN headquarters in New York said on Saturday December 12 Reuters .

On approval of the document declared French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius. He called the agreement “an ambitious and balanced” noting that it is “historic turning point” in the effort to prevent global warming.

Russia’s position has been accounted for in the agreement said Tass Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Minister Sergei Donskoi. According to him in the near future Moscow will work on the implementation of agreements through the development of relevant federal law.

US President Barack Obama called the conclusion climate agreement tremendous achievement. “Almost all countries have just approved the Paris Agreement on climate change – thanks to American leadership” – he wrote in Twitter .

UN climate summit held in Paris from November 30 it was initially planned to end on the 11th of December. The agreement which inter alia provides for the allocation of $ 100 billion to developing countries to address climate issues should replace the Kyoto Protocol which was adopted in 1997 in addition to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. In accordance with the provisions of the Protocol developed countries and countries with economies in transition have to reduce or stabilize emissions of environmentally harmful greenhouse gases.

Source: KAZINFORM

The first sitting of International Selection Committee took place in Paris, where the leading experts in the sphere of energy and green technologies discussed the content of the pavilion “Zones of best practices”, the press service of “Astana EXPO-2017″ Company informed.

The pavilion will exhibit already implemented technologies and projects in different spheres of sustainable energy sources.

The next sitting is scheduled for May 2016 in Astana.

As earlier reported, the international specialized exhibition EXPO-2017 will have the theme “Future Energy”.

Source: United Nations Development Programme

UNDP is pleased to co-host this important event with the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the Climate Bonds Initiative to highlight the importance of finding new and innovative ways of financing energy projects.

UNDP and the GEF have worked together on sustainable energy for over twenty years. GEF is a very important and much valued partner for us. Our collaboration with Climate Bonds is new.

The subject of this event, Aggregating Financing for Low-Carbon Energy, is an important part of discussions on how to address the current challenges faced in financing sustainable energy solutions.

The scale of unmet energy needs is daunting. More than 1.1 billion people around the world currently lack basic access to electricity[1]. Huge investments will be required to meet these needs and to enable developing countries to meet rapidly growing electricity demand[2] - and to do so in sustainable ways.

When we think about that unmet need for energy, let us think of the need of a child in a remote village who can’t study effectively in the evening because there is no adequate lighting; or of the need of a micro-enterprise which is held back from growing either because it has no access to modern energy at all, or because there are frequent power cuts.

Energy access is one challenge – sustainable energy is another. Energy production and use currently account for two thirds of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. [3]

Now energy has been recognised in the new global development agenda as a critical enabler of sustainable development. Goal 7 seeks ‘to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all’. It recognises energy as an essential precondition for progress in many other areas, from education to health, jobs, and inclusive growth.

To this end, we are seeing a number of trends which are promising for increasing sustainable energy provision, including:

• dramatic reductions in sustainable energy hardware costs; for example, solar panel costs have fallen sixty per cent in the past three years[4];
• countries’ energy systems are in transition. Large, centralized power plants are being complemented by small-scale, decentralized energy generation to power homes, businesses, and communities for which there are many sustainable solutions available; and
• innovative business models for renewable energy supply are emerging. Pay-as-you-go solar home kits in East Africa, for example, are disrupting long established markets for kerosene, and offering consumers sustainable energy alternatives.

UNDP, in partnership with the GEF, is already supporting innovative solutions for transformation of the energy sector so that the proportion of renewable provision in the mix can rise. For example:

• in Peru, we are assisting the government through a renewable energy Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Action (NAMA) to put in place policies which promote new business models for private sector investment in roof-top solar energy; and
• in Uzbekistan, we are working with the Government and commercial banks to pilot a green mortgage scheme which will help rural home-owners get more affordable loans to enable them to have energy efficient homes.

Energy system financing is in transition. In the past, it has tended to focus on large-scale projects, yet small-scale energy requires financing too.

Financial aggregation is an innovative approach which can support the funding of small-scale sustainable energy solutions. It works by bundling a number of small-scale, low-carbon energy activities, allowing developers to access new, low-cost capital. Ultimately this makes clean energy more affordable, reliable, and accessible.

The newly announced Climate Aggregation Platform aims to raise awareness of this approach, promote standardization, and showcase investments made. It can make an important contribution to building momentum for innovative sustainable energy financing.

Let me end by emphasizing that this is a promising time for growth in sustainable energy solutions around the world. Financial aggregation can play a key role in underpinning and accelerating this change. At UNDP, we stand ready to support countries to implement innovative approaches aimed at achieving sustainable energy for all.

Source: United Nations Development Programme

A new multi-million dollar initiative to promote clean energy investment in developing countries was announced on the 7th of December at the COP21 climate talks in Paris.

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) will provide $2 USD million in initial funding to help kick-start the formation of the ‘Climate Aggregation Platform’ (CAP) in 2016. The CAP is expected to leverage over $100 USD million in co-financing from different partners, including from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

The announcement was made by Naoko Ishii, GEF CEO and Chairperson, during Energy Day at COP21. The CAP aims to help build pipelines of standardised, low-carbon energy assets in developing countries and to develop low-cost sources of financing for these assets, tapping new and diverse investor bases.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), together with the Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI), will implement the CAP programme. The IDB will be a core partner in demonstration transactions.

The CAP will be structured around three core activities:

A global working group, to promote engagement and coordination amongst key finance and industry stakeholders.

Promoting the standardisation essential to aggregation.

In-country demonstrations and providing technical support for pilot transactions, to build pipelines and achieve scale.

Aggregation is important to allow developing country financial institutions, from banks to micro-finance lenders, to make the most of their limited balance sheets. The aggregation, or bundling together, of small loans and assets aims to create investment products that meet the large-scale needs of institutional investors including global pension funds and insurance funds. Effective financial aggregation holds out the promise of opening up new finance & investment channels, both domestic and between North and South.

The operational launch of the CAP will take place in Spring 2016 following further project planning and international stakeholder consultations.

Naoko Ishii, CEO GEF said:

“We need to rapidly ratchet up financing support for clean energy in developing countries. I’m delighted to announce the launch of the Climate Aggregation Platform to help spur strategic and transformative investments and to accelerate energy efficiency.”

Helen Clark, Administrator UNDP said:

“Access to low-cost financing will be essential to the goal of bringing affordable, clean and reliable energy to the citizens of developing countries. I welcome the CAP and am hopeful that, in promoting financial aggregation, it can make a contribution to this important objective.”

Climate Bonds CEO Sean Kidney said:

“The CAP is an initial step in addressing the myriad of structural, financial and economic barriers that currently hinder the rapid growth of small scale climate friendly projects. Bringing together the major stakeholders to progress the underlying issues around aggregation is a welcome development.”

Source: KAZINFORM

It is planned to construct a new passenger terminal at the international airport of Astana before the international exhibition EXPO-2017, this has been announced during

a press conference in Central Communications Service by Askar Mamin, president of JSC “NC”Kazakhstan Temir Zholy”.

He stressed that in the framework of Nurly Zhol program it is planned to build a new passenger terminal at the international airport of Astana which will allow increasing the capacity from 3 to 7 million passengers a year. Mr. Mamin noted that this year Astana will be visited by more than 3.5 million passengers. It is almost a full load of the existing airport.

According to the press service of Kazakhstan Temir Zholy, at the moment the company is laying the foundation of the building of the passenger terminal, installing external engineering networks, devices and lighting equipment. In addition, the company has already completed the construction of a new apron for aircraft parking.

The project is planned to be commissioned in March 2017. The aim of the new terminal is to increase the capacity of the airport to meet growing passenger traffic.

Source: EcoWatch

They say you can’t reinvent the wheel, but in May 2014, the Waterfront Partnership did just that. The Baltimore nonprofit installed “the world’s first permanent water wheel trash interceptor” to clean up the city’s polluted Inner Harbor.

The wheel, which is powered by solar panels and water currents, has pulled a whole lot of trash from the harbor in less than two years. As recently reported by Waste Dive, the $750,000 floating trash guzzler has removed more than 350 tons of litter from Baltimore’s landmark and tourist attraction to date.

This includes 80,000 plastic bottles, more than 90,000 foam containers, 36,000 plastic shopping bags, 66,000 snack bags and 4 million cigarette butts.

Affectionately known as Mr. Trash Wheel, the floating contraption has the capability to collect 50,000 pounds of trash per day.

As EcoWatch reported, the wheel receives power from Jones Falls River’s current near the harbor, which turns the wheel and lifts trash from the water into a dumpster barge. An array of 30 solar panels keeps the wheel turning when the water current isn’t enough.

This video from NBC News explains how the water wheel works and how the it could be the solution for cleaning trash pollution in waterways around the world:

Officials from Singapore, Rio and nearly 30 U.S. cities, including Philadelphia and Honolulu, have called Baltimore to learn about the wheel, Waste Dive reported.

“Our primary goal was to keep trash out of the Harbor and Chesapeake Bay and ultimately support an initiative to make the Harbor swimmable and fishable by 2020,” Adam Lindquist, director of the Waterfront Partnership-launched Healthy Harbor Initiative, told Waste Dive.

Still, it will take great strides to make the harbor actually swimmable and fishable in less than five years. In June, the Waterfront Partnership and Blue Water Baltimore graded the harbor an overall “F” in their 2014 Healthy Harbor Report Card.

According to the Baltimore Biz Journal, the high level of fecal bacteria pollution, which comes from sewer overflows and poor stormwater infrastructure, makes the harbor “hundreds of times higher than what is considered safe for human contact.”

The Report Card did however acknowledge projects that have improved water quality, with the water wheel being one of them.

“A number of projects are going on in Baltimore City and County that should result in better water quality scores,” according to a press release. “Four of these projects, that are detailed in the report card, include the Blue Alleys project, the Water Wheel, expanded street sweeping and stream restoration.”