Could a shift to gas be a trump-card in Kazakhstan’s January elections?
Welcome to Climate Weekly!
This week, we’d like to introduce Danara Ismetova, a journalist from Kazakhstan, where she told me, “you won’t find the climate crisis or “climate change” on the front page”.
Hi, my name is Danara 👋
I am a journalist from Kazakhstan, based in Almaty, which has incredible nature reserves that were recently added to UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere program alongside the incredible West Altai mountains.
Here you won’t find words like “climate crisis” or “climate change” on the front pages of our newspapers, but people are seriously concerned with air pollution and energy.
One of the biggest issues getting coverage now, is the transformation of our existing coal power, to a gas-fired system across the country. While the Eastern regions of Kazakhstan will probably be linked up to a Russian gas pipeline, the rest of our country’s domestic power is quickly shifting to burn our own gas.
Kazakhstan has traditionally been reliant on coal for close to 70% of our power generation, causing a massive impact on air pollution across all of our major cities. According to a recent study published in “Aerosol and air quality research”, the average PM2.5 concentration in Almaty (the biggest city in the country) was more then 5x the recommended WHO limit. As I write this newsletter, the IAQ index for Nur-Sultan, our capital, is “very unhealthy,” at 243.
The construction of gas distribution networks has already started in Nur-Sultan. Other cities are waiting for their turn. Recently the government promised to submit a general plan for the country's shift to gas in April 2021, but currently, we don’t know how big this transition will be, or how much it will cost.
This is why people in my own city of Almaty are hopeful for what gas might bring. Currently, a massive coal plant, known as “Tets-2” is pumping out 37,000 tons of carcinogenic emissions, including nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide. As part of this national gas transformation, we expect this plant to be 100% gas by 2025.
Still in Almaty, on 23rd November, residents and environmental activists were shocked, when they saw that 13 tall elms and oak trees had been cut down overnight.
The next day, the President of Kazakhstan, Kasym Jomart-Tokayev, called for an official investigation, that led to a pre-trial probe into the illegal felling. Since the current president took office, he has been trying to pay attention to environmental issues, and may be trying to use this as a symbolic show of force ahead of January’s elections.
From Climate Tracker
To Read: Italian journalist, Marco Ranocchiari wrote a great piece on climate adaptation in Venice, and what impacts it could have on the city’s lagoons.
To Join: We’re hosting an All-Star Webinar on Monday to launch our latest research into energy coverage across Southeast Asia.
To Apply: We have 3 days left to apply for our latest Global Media Fellowship. Would you like to join an incredible 3 month fellowship with 12 other young climate journalists? The application’s easy, just send in your story pitch this weekend!
To Listen: Did you know we have a Podcast now? Yeah, I know, doesn’t everybody? Last week, we sat down with Danara, and chatted about media censorship, air pollution…and…Borat.
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