The best experts of the Supreme Audit Chamber of Kazakhstan
will conduct an environmental state audit in pilot mode next year. According to
them, the outcomes of this study will enhance the methodology of green
inspections at domestic industrial enterprises, as well as make adjustments to
the existing national standards of the Environmental Code. This was announced
during the international ASOSAI auditors’ forum in Astana, attended by representatives
of relevant chambers and associations from over 16 countries, including Asia
and Europe.
“The Supreme
Audit Chamber has been working on testing global technology for introducing
environmental audits for several years. It holds significant importance for
Kazakhstan given the climate change, tougher weather conditions and scarcity of
fresh water we are currently witnessing. Therefore, environmental auditing is
an area that the Chamber will systematically develop. The forum of the ASOSAI
environmental auditing, an international organization of auditors from Asia, is
one of the key areas,” Rassul Rakhimov, member of the Supreme
Audit Chamber of Kazakhstan, said.
According to experts, Kazakhstan pays special attention to
the development of climate policy. Thus, a new Water Code is currently in the
works, with plans for its adoption by the end of the year. At the forum,
representatives of the Kazakh Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources
recalled the international obligations assumed by the country, as part of which
large-scale work is carried out to mitigate the risks of air pollution and
climate change.
“In February
2023, the Head of State signed a 2060 strategy, according to which Kazakhstan
must reduce emissions by 15 percent. What needs to be done for this? It
directly involves environmental auditing. Presently, directories of the best
available technologies are in the process of development, according to which
the 50 companies utilizing natural resources should adopt these best available
technologies to reduce emissions into the atmosphere,” said Mansur Oshurbayev, Kazakh Vice
Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources.
