Kazakhstan’s energy future brightens with renewables focus, Moody’s says

REGION

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Kazakhstan is poised for significant growth in the energy sector in the future, supported by national policies to transition to renewable energy sources and significant investments in infrastructure modernization, Trend reports via Moody’s.

The country's strategic shift toward green energy is a key component of its efforts to mitigate carbon transition risks.

"For hydrocarbon-producing countries such as Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan, a greater regional flow of renewable energy will help mitigate carbon transition risks by accelerating the adoption of cleaner energy sources," said Moody’s.

This is being spearheaded by major regional initiatives, including the Caspian Green Energy Corridor, which was established at the 29th Conference of the Parties (COP29) in November 2024. The project aims to transport wind and solar-generated energy across the Caspian Sea to Europe via a proposed 400-kilometer submarine cable linking Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.

Investment in the country’s green energy sector is gaining momentum. Masdar and TotalEnergies SE (Aa3 stable) are each developing a one GW wind farm as part of Kazakhstan’s strategic green energy partnerships. The nation is also a leader in sustainable finance within the region, having issued over 20 sustainable bonds since 2019, with a cumulative volume exceeding $1 billion by the end of 2024. A notable example is the Development Bank of Kazakhstan (DBK, Baa1 stable), which issued a 100 billion tenge ($227 million) sustainability bond in April 2024, reflecting growing pressure from the government on its parent company, Baiterek National Management Holding JSC (Baa1 stable), to increase reliance on long-term market-based funding to support green infrastructure projects.



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