Central Asia’s Active Pursuit of Clean Air and Energy
As Central Asian countries continue to open the region more to tourism, international investment, and greater global attention through various nation-branding initiatives, environmental protection remains one ongoing transnational challenge. Specifically, addressing air pollution and smog that can cover entire cities for days, or even weeks, at a time, causing significant health hazards.
Air quality has long been a challenge for cities like Almaty, Bishkek, and Tashkent, largely due to a combination of factors. First, these cities are situated at the foothills of the Tian Shan mountain range, which creates basin-like conditions that significantly limit air circulation, especially in winter. As a result, temperature inversions trap pollutants, preventing them from dispersing in the cold climate at ground level beneath warmer air above. Second, coal-based heating and power generation, many dating back to the Soviet era, still dominate much of the region’s energy sector. Given these geographic conditions, winter heating causes a significant spike in carbon emissions.
Third, rapid urban growth and construction projects in capital cities and elsewhere produce enormous amounts of dust and particulate emissions into the air. The demand for new housing, gentrification projects in downtown areas, and either the lack of any new green space or its elimination for the sake of new construction projects, including roads and highways, leaves many outdoor spaces covered in dust and heavily contributes to the smog. Fourth, and probably most problematic, urban migration and population growth have led to a significant increase in car use, including Soviet-era automobiles and inexpensive imports, all with poor emission standards. As urban centers become congested with traffic, public transportation remains limited in most towns and cities.
Finally, Central Asia’s modernization has compelled many of its leaders to focus on industrial growth while also addressing rising energy demands. As is often the case, modernization depends on existing infrastructure and often downplays environmental concerns. Since regulatory enforcement and monitoring systems are, at best, in the early stages, the health hazards of air pollution are recognized, but more needs to be done to address what is identified as threats to public health and safety.
Yet as media increasingly notes Central Asian cities as being some of the most polluted in the world, new steps have been taken recently by government officials, particularly in light of the region becoming more of a travel and investment destination for the international community. While coal remains a cheap source of energy in outlying communities, most urban residential areas rely on gas for heating and cooking, and countries like Kazakhstan have made it a national policy to completely eliminate all dependency on fossil fuel burning in the foreseeable future, even to the point of offering free conversion for homes.
In Uzbekistan’s capital Tashkent, the largest city in Central Asia with a population of more than three million people, urban growth has met with two large projects and one experimental initiative. The first project is a massive investment in expanding the city’s already extensive network of Metro lines that began in the Soviet period and continued up to the present. By adding more stations to the city’s outlying areas along with plans for an entirely new – and partially complete – line that circumvents Tashkent as a whole, the city government is making it easier for commuters to rely on public transportation instead of cars that contribute to the morning and evening traffic jams throughout the city. This is connected to an experimental initiative in which residents are encouraged to rely on public transportation at least one day a month. While this puts a considerable strain on public transportation, this shift in commuting increases the necessity for newer and more frequent subways, all of which operate on electricity.
Tashkent’s second project partially mimics that of Kazakhstan’s 1997 project for relocating its capital; however, instead of deciding on an entirely new city, plans for a New Tashkent east of the existing city are in development. More than simply a desire to build an entirely new and modern-looking city, the rationale is to move government, business, and educational centers to a fixed location to alleviate congestion and reduce carbon emissions in the current city center and to rely on newer, more environmentally friendly, and energy-saving infrastructure than those of the older Soviet-era buildings.
Beyond Tashkent, Uzbekistan became the first Central Asian country in 2024 to align its national air quality standards with the World Health Organization’s (WHO) target indicators and expanded its monitoring network to cover twenty-six cities with eighty-nine observation points. In addition, the country has developed its first National Air Protection Strategy, which is a coordinated plan to reduce carbon emissions from transport, industry, and other pollution sources. A significant part of this strategy includes further investment in electric-powered public transportation, which, in addition to newer Metros, also includes public buses, and purchasing incentives for electric cars.
In Kazakhstan, at the national level, the government has adopted a new Environmental Code of Kazakhstan in 2021, which aligns more closely with OECD standards and introduces stricter emissions controls based on the “polluter pays” principle and the adoption of Best Available Techniques (BAT) for industrial facilities. This is complemented by the country’s emissions trading system, the Kazakhstan Emissions Trading Scheme, which remains the first of its kind in Central Asia and is being further refined to incentivize reductions in greenhouse gas emissions across key sectors.
In neighboring Kyrgyzstan, a joint $10 million project with South Korea, along with an additional $50 million project supported by the World Bank, has been established to address the air quality throughout the country. Like Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, both projects are aimed at building a number of air quality monitoring stations, reducing the amount of coal burning, investing in electric transportation, and investing in extensive recycling programs, which remain quite rudimentary throughout Central Asia.
Perhaps most importantly in understanding that air pollution and investments in environmental sustainability are regional challenges, the Regional Ecological Summit will be held in Astana, Kazakhstan, between April 22 and 24, organized by Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Ecology and National Resources. In recent years, Kazakhstan has stepped up its efforts to position itself as a convening hub for regional and international dialogue, bringing together policymakers, experts, and development partners to align standards, share best practices, and mobilize investment for cross-border environmental solutions. To date, the presidents of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan are expected to attend, among other world leaders, in an effort to develop coordinated solutions for continuing to address the above-mentioned challenges as well as intensify efforts at reversing water level decline in the Caspian Sea and remnants of the Aral.
While the Summit is expected to project a joint statement by Central Asia’s leaders on regional ecological cooperation, these projects, supported as they are by the United Nations and other international organizational bodies, require years, if not decades, of dedicated work and commitment. What is important is that all leading authorities recognize the severe crises brought on by air pollution and environmental damage brought on by modernization and development. As part of Central Asia’s efforts to present a positive image of the region to the world and continue to promote tourism and economic investment, it is vital for states to cooperate and take active roles in improving the health standards of air quality not only to rectify the problems of the past but also to secure quality and sustainable living standards for its future generations.