Kazakhstan announces just energy transition investment platform

• Kazakhstan announces its just energy transition investment platform, QaJET
• MoU signed by ministries of energy, ecology and natural resources and EBRD
• QaJET will help deploy new renewable capacity and support decarbonisation

Kazakhstan has today, at the Regional Ecological Summit 2026 in Astana, announced its just energy transition investment platform (QaJET), as part of its climate, economic resilience and development goals.

QaJET reflects the country’s ambition to advance clean energy transition by deploying 10 GW of new renewable capacity by 2035. This will entail around US$ 20 billion (€17.4 billion) of investment from a range of private and state sources, and will lead to the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by more than 20 million tonnes a year. This represents approximately 7 per cent of the country’s energy-related GHG emissions.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed by Kazakhstan’s Minister of Energy Yerlan Akkenzhenov, Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Yerlan Nyssanbayev, and EBRD Managing Director, Central Asia and Mongolia, Hüseyin Özhan. The MoU establishes the foundation for cooperation with international financial institutions, donors, philanthropic organisations and private investors supporting QaJET’s implementation.

This is a significant milestone for Kazakhstan, which has a carbon-intensive heavy industry and relies significantly on coal for electricity generation. At the request of the government of Kazakhstan, the EBRD has been helping the ministries to develop the concept of QaJET and will continue to lead the coordination of its implementation with national and international partners.

QaJET reinforces Kazakhstan’s existing commitment to achieving carbon neutrality by 2060 and, as set out in its Nationally Determined Contribution, to reducing its net GHG emissions by up to 25 per cent by 2030 compared to 1990 levels.

In addition, the QaJET platform will contribute to greater energy security for the country, improve economic competitiveness and resilience, and stimulate the local production of technologically advanced renewable energy components and related services.

Areas of cooperation under QaJET will include:

• deploying new renewable electricity capacity, including piloting various renewable energy technologies for heat supply
• supporting investments in electricity transmission and distribution networks, including grid modernisation, upgrades of distribution networks and battery storage systems
• the electrification of businesses, small and medium-sized enterprises and households
• just transition support, knowledge building, transfer of technologies, and research and development.

The EBRD will draw on lessons learned from previous EBRD-supported country platforms, such as Egypt’s Nexus for Water, Food and Energy (NWFE) – Energy Pillar, the North Macedonia Just Energy Transition Investment Platform (JETIP), and the Türkiye Industrial Decarbonisation Investment Platform (TIDIP).

The EBRD has invested almost US$ 12 billion (€10.2 billion) in Kazakhstan to date through 345 projects, making the country the largest and longest‑running recipient of EBRD investment in Central Asia.