China’s new green footprint across Kazakhstan
Dear friends,
Outside the plane window, China’s stretch of northern desert – dotted with windmills and solar panels – gave way to the jagged, snow-capped peaks of Kazakhstan and then to the country’s vast steppe.
The flat grassland surrounding Kazakhstan’s capital of Astana may be largely bare of infrastructure now, but it will soon become home to vast farms of Chinese-funded renewable energy.
Once on the ground, further signs of a deepening economic and social relationship between Beijing and Astana were evident in the cars I called to take me around the city, many of which were sleek export models of Chinese electric vehicles.
According to the driver of one such vehicle, these cars have become commonplace across Kazakhstan’s capital, which is the forefront of the country’s drive to reach carbon neutrality by 2060 – a goal China also shares.
Locals said they had noticed a growing number of Chinese technologies, companies, tourists and workers arriving in the city.
At the inaugural Regional Ecological Summit held in Astana in April, it became clear that China had become a vital piece of Central Asia’s environmental development and that Kazakhstan had emerged as a frontier for Beijing’s global green outreach.
China is Kazakhstan’s largest trade partner and Kazakhstan has quickly become the largest recipient of funding from China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
Local officials I spoke to at the summit noted the growing bilateral scientific cooperation and investment from China in areas like renewable energy, water use management, sustainable agriculture and anti-desertification. They also said this was very welcome.
Some praised China’s vision for the world, both for its approach to international diplomacy and the export blueprint it shared for green development.
Astana’s population seems to still be adjusting curiously to this new reality, with local attendees at a green technology expo held on the sidelines of the summit – including groups of schoolchildren – pointing out and whispering in Russian about the presence of stalls from Chinese companies.
Several of those companies shared that while expanding their business to Kazakhstan and Central Asia was appealing due to growing opportunities in the region, they were often still in the early stages of such integration.
After a week in Astana, this was my takeaway: China’s green vision had taken root in its bordering nation and Kazakhstan had embraced this strategic alignment to reach its own green goals.
After all, many of the environmental concerns they share do not adhere to borders.
Best,
Victoria Bela
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