Kazakhstan cities to cut greenhouse gas emissions 20 percent

Kazakhstan cities will lower their greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent. Kazakhstan Ministry of Industry and New Technologies has signed an Interaction Agreement with the EU Association of Energy Efficient Cities, Tengrinews.kz reports citing the press-service of KazakhEnergoExpertise. "Kazakhstan Ministry of Industry and New Technologies represented by KazakhEnergoExpertise and the European Union Association of Energy Efficient Cities signed the Agreement on Interaction with the Generate Directorate of the European Commission on Energy and Covenant of Mayors Initiative to expand international cooperation in energy-saving and improvement of energy efficiency. KazakhEnergoExpertise was made the national coordinator of the Covenant of Mayors initiative at the territory of Kazakhstan," the press-service writes. The cities that sign this agreement undertake voluntary obligations to cut their greenhouse gas emissions by at least 20 percent. The Covenant of Mayors is a mainstream European movement that involves local and regional authorities that voluntarily commit to increasing energy efficiency and use of renewable energy sources at their territories. The movement currently involves 46 countries, 3,700 cities and over 9 million citizens. Earlier Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev instructed the government of Kazakhstan to give close consideration to water and energy saving. He believes that Kazakhstan government is not moving any further than talking it its energy saving efforts. The Kazakhstan government currently has the ambitions goal of increasing the county's GDP to at least 30 percent by 2020 and ensuring a 10-percent cut of GDP energy intensity by 2015.