LocationsAt a boiling point: how the global combat against climate change took shape
November 20, 2024
The world is at a boiling point, quite literally, when it comes to the climate change challenges countries face today. This isn’t just another agenda item to be discussed at global summits—it is the result of centuries of human impact and industrialization. But instead of turning a blind eye to the growing crisis, countries, including Kazakhstan, took steps to address the issue head-on for the sake of both the planet and people.
To understand where we stand today, we need to look back at where it all began.
The roots of climate action: UNFCCC and the global movement
In the 1980s, scientists raised concerns about the rising dangers of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. In 1988, the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme established the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to study the issue. Two years later, the IPCC released its First Assessment Report and confirmed that human activities were driving climate change. This led to the 1992 creation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), signed by 154 nations, marking the first global effort to combat climate change.
Read more about UNFCCC here
Moving forward: addressing climate change to abate disaster risk
As the consequences of climate change intensify, addressing disaster risk has become a crucial element of climate action. It became clear that adaptation and resilience-building were just as essential as mitigation. Countries were not only tasked with reducing emissions but also with increasing their resilience to climate-related disasters. This led to the adoption of the Sendai Framework in 2015.
Read more about the Sendai Framework here
Kazakhstan's commitments under international agreements serve as a catalyst for implementing solutions in climate change adaptation, low-carbon development, and sustainable environmental management. In recent years, Kazakhstan has faced numerous emergency situations directly linked to climate change. To address these challenges, Kazakhstan is implementing various projects to increase resilience to disasters.
United by one goal and bounded globally
In December 2015, after long and tense discussions, 196 Parties came together to adopt the Paris Agreement, a legally binding global agreement aimed at developing responsive measures to climate change. The Agreement functions on a five-year cycle, where countries regularly implement, update, and adopt their new climate action plans, known as nationally determined contributions (NDCs), including a periodic analysis known as Global Stocktake.
Read more about the Paris Agreement here
From promise to action
NDCs are central to the Paris Agreement and represent each country's efforts to reduce national emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change. The key aim is to evaluate the measures taken and set more ambitious targets for the next NDC cycle.
Read more about NDCs here
In 2016 Kazakhstan ratified the Paris Agreement and submitted its first NDCs containing a commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 15 percent by 2030 versus 1990. This marks the starting point for both formulating a National Adaptation Plan (NAP) and developing a strategy for achieving carbon neutrality. Adopted in 2023, the Carbon Neutrality Strategy outlines the aims to transform the country’s energy sector by ensuring that renewable energy accounts for at least 15 percent of the country's energy balance by 2030. The same year, Kazakhstan updated its NDCs to include not only mitigation efforts but also adaptation priorities in areas such as forestry, agriculture, water resources, and disaster risk reduction. The government recognizes that achieving these goals requires significant economic and social transformation, and is aligning financial resources, policies, and strategies accordingly.
Coordinated climate action through transparency
Transparency involves the systematic reporting and review of relevant climate data and actions in addressing climate change. Under the UNFCCC, transparency frameworks ensure the regular availability of data on greenhouse gas emissions, policies, progress towards targets, and adaptation efforts.
A crucial aspect of climate action reporting is the detailed review and assessment of implementation efforts. This allows countries to track their climate actions, evaluate what’s working, and make necessary adjustments to stay on course for their long-term climate goals. These efforts are captured in national communications, submitted every four years, and biennial reports, submitted every two years, to the UNFCCC.
Read more about national communications and biennial reports here
Kazakhstan is actively working to increase its resilience to climate change. Since submitting its first National Communication in 1998, Kazakhstan has steadily advanced toward carbon neutrality by strengthening legislation across all sectors. In 2014, Kazakhstan submitted its first Biennial Report to the UNFCCC and, in 2024, started preparation for the first Biennial Transparency Report (BTR). BTR’2024 includes information on national inventory reports, policies and measures, climate change impacts and adaptation, levels of financial, technology development and transfer, capacity-building support, and areas of improvement. But the most important is that from this moment, BTR has become a tool for tracking progress toward the implementation and achievement of NDCs.
A long way, future hope
The world has come a long way since scientists first raised the alarm about climate change. From the establishment of the UNFCCC to the adoption of the Paris Agreement and the prioritization of transparency and accountability through NDCs, countries have made significant strides. But the journey is far from over. As the planet continues to heat up and extreme weather events become more frequent, the need for coordinated, transparent, and sustained climate action has never been more urgent.
Countries must not only meet their existing commitments but go beyond them by implementing sustainable, innovative solutions to tackle the climate crisis, ensuring that resilience, adaptation, mitigation, and just transition are prioritized at every level.
The global response to the climate crisis is a shared responsibility, and the steps we take today will determine the fate of future generations.
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