Action on Circular Economy for Green Growth in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan

Project Summary:

The objective of this grant is to facilitate actions on the circular economy to achieve green growth in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. The proposed activity will support the development of Circular Economy Action Plans and green finance concepts in selected sectors in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan in relation to regulatory reforms and institutionalization, stakeholder involvement, and frameworks for monitoring progress. This activity will also support necessary analytical work on the circular economy, providing practical guidance tools for World Bank staff and partner countries, introducing circular economy principles in policy and investment, as well as supporting policy dialogue and knowledge transfer. Moving from a linear to a circular economy is an irreversible, global mega trend towards green growth (GG), and is closely tied with key priorities in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, including jobs, green finance, climate and energy, the social agenda and industrial innovation, as well as global efforts aimed at sustainable development. The circular economy will also boost both countries’ competitiveness by protecting businesses against the scarcity of resources and volatile prices, helping to create new opportunities and innovative, more efficient ways of producing and consuming goods. It will create local jobs at all skills levels and introduce opportunities for social integration and cohesion. This KGGTF funded activity, with technical support from Korean institutions and other co-financing, will also advance the transfer of knowledge to other selected countries at the global level.

List of Activities:

1. Knowledge Exchange to promote circular economy for green growth
2. Development of sectoral circular economy action plan and technical analysis for applying circular economy principles
3. Development of green finance instruments for delivering circular and green projects in UZ and KZ for green growth - Review of potential finance instruments and/or design of the green finance instruments (green bonds or greed funds)
4. Building the evidence-based and implementation tools for resource circularity to develop the still limited evidence basis on the scope to leverage the CE for green growth in low- and middle-income countries

Outcomes:

Output 1:

• Organizing international visits, stakeholder workshops/conferences and training to increase technical and operational knowledge on waste/pollution/contaminated land prevention and management in circular economy
• Organizing experience sharing and collaboration stimulation activities among UZ, KZ and other select countries
• Preparing sector Circular Economy Action Plans

Output 2:

• Identifying disruptive technologies for waste prevention and industrial symbiosis in select sectors, 
• Providing technical training and identifying opportunities for MFD by leveraging private partnerships   
• Preparing feasibility studies on applying circular economy principles for waste prevention and management in select cities and on sustainable and risk-based contaminated land management at select sites in the two countries
• Preparing feasibility studies for increased sector participation in EPR operation, including improvement of legislative framework for enhanced EPR operation 
• Establishing EPR collaboration between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan

Output 3:

• Assessing green finance options in Uzbekistan
• Preparing a concept for establishing the green finance instruments (green bonds or greed funds) for delivering circular economy solutions in Kazakhstan

Output 4:

• Completion of (i) evidence-based analytical work on the potential for CE to foster GG in developing countries, (ii) concrete guidance tools on CE operationalization to Bank staff and client countries policymakers. 

Outcomes:

1. Improved efficiency:  In circular economy, products are designed for durability, reuse and recyclability, and produced by feedstocks recovered from old products. This system aims at maximizing the value of raw materials/resource efficiency, product and services as much as possible through reuse, remanufacturing, recycling and recovery of energy while minimizing waste generation in manufacturing process and at the end-of-life stage. 

• Waste prevention through improved resource productivity/eco-design will influence consumer and industrial behaviors to reduce excessive material consumption, therefore reducing municipal solid waste, encouraging resource-efficient consumption and creating resource circulation culture.  
• Waste management such as recycling, compositing and waste to energy will also contribute to overall resource efficiency.    

2. Greater resilience:  Promote increased resilience through implementing circular economy principles focusing on waste/pollution prevention, reuse and recycling to make cities more resilient against risks arising from past development mistakes and a changing climate. This ranges from the beginning on smart product design and production processes having an impact on sourcing, resource use and waste generation throughout a product's life to waste management infrastructure design that is well adapted to a variety of futures, protection against extreme weather events, integrated water resources management and mechanisms to avoid disruptions of urban and transport services in cases of natural disasters. 

3. Increased competitiveness: Underpinning the Korean vision of GG is the notion that a focus on green sustainability need not come at the expense of growth and that greening can also be a source of increased competitiveness.  This is particularly true for production where industrial symbiosis allows waste or by-products of one industry to become inputs for another and substantial synergies exist between environment, resource efficiency and growth objectives. There is much to learn from South Korea. The two countries will enormously benefit from the advantages made by South Korea and experience learned will be distributed to other Central Asia countries.

Collaboration with K-Partners and Others:

• Korea Environmental Industry Technology Institute (KEITI) 
• Korea Engineering Consultants Corporation (KECC) and other Korea agencies 
• DFI-EDCF/KEXIM  
• Korea private partners 
• Global Environmental Facility (GEF) 
• European Union (EU)