Carbon Farming in Kazakhstan: Unlocking the Opportunity

A working version of the research report “The Carbon Farming Industry in Kazakhstan: Unlocking Opportunities”, prepared jointly with the International Center for Competition Law and Policy of the BRICS at the Higher School of Economics and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA).

Carbon farming is a set of sustainable practices and techniques that improve the absorption and retention of carbon from the atmosphere in soils. Such technologies, unlike industrial methods of carbon capture, are more efficient, lower cost and can be widely used. In addition, they restore soil quality and bring significant additional benefits in terms of ecology and socio-economic development.

The report examines the positive effects of the deployment of carbon farming methods in regions with semi-arid and arid climates using the example of Kazakhstan. The main problems of agriculture in such regions are moisture deficiency and loss of organic matter (humus) by soils, which affects the health of soils and their ability to perform their functions. Illustrative examples in Kazakhstan are virgin areas in the north of the country and the Aral Sea region in the southwest.