In accordance with the Paris Agreement requirements, Kazakhstan is currently analysing its existing system for measuring and reporting the impacts of adaptation and mitigation measures on climate change.

UNDP is supporting the development of an updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) of Kazakhstan to include a component on adaptation to climate change, the introduction of a state-of-the art system of measuring, reporting and verification of greenhouse gases and the identification of adaptation policies and measures.

Thus, from February to April 2022, the UNDP team organized a series of trainings with the participation of Daniele Pernigotti – international expert on ISO standards for validation and verification of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The seminar participants represented different sectors: emitting sector, national companies, state and quasi-state companies, service companies involved in GHG inventory, its verification, validation of projects to reduce GHG emissions and experts creating conditions for the implementation of ISO in the country – KazStandard and National Accreditation Centre.

We decided to ask the organizers and participants of the training what was the importance of such professional development courses and what standards are used to validate and verify greenhouse gas emissions.

- Why is the professional development of specialists in greenhouse gas verification and validation important? And what exactly are the ISO standards in this respect?

Saulet Sakenov, Technical Advisor of the UNDP Climate Change Portfolio in Kazakhstan:

“This is a system where all the country's efforts to reduce GHG emissions will be clearly visible and understandable in the context of the country, business communities and international organizations. In that regard, any country, including ours, needs to transparently report on the actions they are taking to reduce the burden on the climate. The most convenient tool for this is the introduction of ISO standards that harmonize reporting by business and by government. 

Every participant of our trainings acquired comprehensive knowledge of the application of ISO standards, their updates and implementation in other countries around the globe. Since most of the approaches to reducing greenhouse gas emissions are standardized, this is the way to understand how the government’s “playing field” will change to control greenhouse gas emissions. Thus, while we have established a dialogue among all participants in the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions, we have also shown how to make the reporting more convenient for both businesses and the government.”  

- What ISO standards were studied during the training?

Daniele Pernigotti, international expert, course trainer:

“Numerous ISO standards have been developed in several sectors. At the training, we discussed standards focused on carbon management. To be more specific, we covered six major standards:

- The ISO 14064-1 used to design organization-level GHG inventories

- The ISO 14064-2 used to identify and monitor emission reductions and improve GHG removals

- The ISO 14067 used to calculate the carbon footprint of products

- The ISO 14064-3 that defines the principles and guidelines for the validation and verification of greenhouse gas assertions

- The ISO 14065 that includes requirements for verification and validation bodies

- The ISO 14066 that specifies competence requirements for validation teams and verification teams

I would like to add that ISO standards are technical documents developed internationally and based on the consensus of several experts from around the world. This ensures that such documents are developed with the concurrence of most countries in the world, starting from the first steps.

The purpose of the ISO standards is to provide common documents that can be applied worldwide. However, the country has to adopt these documents, and only after can they be applied on its territory. The complexity of the use of these standards is also related to the level of understanding, as these documents are often quite similar. That is why it is so important to conduct such trainings at the national level. In addition, it should be noted that these standards are not in the public domain, their use is possible only after payment. Nonetheless, the benefits of using them are much more important. In fact, the use of the same normative references applied in other countries guarantees international recognition of the actions taken. That constitutes an important advantage for companies and governments alike”.

- Why did you choose to participate in this course? 

Aigul Zhumadilova, expert auditor, greenhouse gas verifier:

“The situations that we discussed during the training were from the actual practice of a specialist working in the field of greenhouse gases. The theoretical part of ISO 14067 standards became more understandable through practical exercises. The lecturer provided comments, which helped us to understand the principles of calculations, and the logic in calculations. Later, we discussed our calculations together, we analysed the errors or nuances of calculations, our discussions were vibrant and interesting. In practice, each of the cases we covered will be applied in my work from the strategic analysis of GHG emissions, risk assessment, to the rendering of opinion on the verification of the carbon footprint of products and data supply chain assessment.”

Of note – more than 150 specialists of organizations, verifiers and validators have been trained since 2020 through the implementation of the UNDP project.