Timur Kulibayev: Environmental issues - indicators of quality of life
The committees of the Presidium of the Atameken NCE RK discussed the issues of environmental and tariff policy.
Chairman of the Committee for Geological, Mining, Coal and Metallurgy Industry Nikolai Radostovets noted that the new draft Environmental Code aims to significantly tighten the requirements for enterprises and does not solve the issue of encouraging the introduction of the best available technologies (BAT), as it was written in the concept of the Code.
“Today, the draft Code does not reflect economic incentives for enterprises, as it was stipulated in the concept itself. The Ministry of Energy is thinking about how to avoid registering inspections. The issue of environmental payments has not been resolved either. Local authorities, receiving billions in payments for the environment to the budget, use no more than 3 per cent of these funds for their intended purpose,” Nikolai Radostovets said.
In addition, it was noted that when reforming environmental legislation, state agencies should also increase their responsibility for the quality of the environment, specifying the list of environmental protection measures and increasing their funding.
In turn, chairman of the Energy Committee Almasadam Satkaliyev noted that the ongoing reform will require significant funds that not all power generating companies have.
“The share of heating plants in the central heat supply is 40 per cent, often they are unprofitable enterprises, which are forced to date the cost of heat due to electricity. At the same time, the legislation does not imply the expenditure part in the tariff for environmental measures, and this is a big issue when introducing BAT into heat and power generation. That is, according to the law, the costs of ecopayment payments are laid in the tariffs, but there are no graphs on the implementation of eco-projects,” Almasadam Satkaliyev explained.
According to the National Chamber, the transition to the environmental standards of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development should be analyzed through financial and time prisms, that is, business cannot transfer to the European environmental quality standards overnight. It takes time, money and technology. Calculations and definition of a target indicator for Kazakhstan are necessary. In terms of energy, this will require a revision of the tariff policy. Environmental measures should be included in the tariff, as this is the only source of income for such companies. But the method of tariff formation should be as transparent and understandable for any citizen of Kazakhstan.
“People should understand how the tariff is formed. We cannot allow unreasonable overstatement of tariffs and prices for energy resources. This is especially true of the coal situation during the heating season. It is important to remember that environmental issues are indicators of the quality of life of all citizens of Kazakhstan, and, gradually, we will raise them. At the same time, the Atameken unambiguously adheres to the position that all environmental payments to the budget should be targeted and spent only on the restoration of the environment,” – Timur Kulibayev said.
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