Dickinson College Dickinson Scholar Student Honors Theses By Year Student Honors Theses 5-17-2015 It’s Not Easy Going Green: Kazakhstan’s Transition to a Green Economy Caroline Erin Elkin Dickinson College Follow this and additional works at: http://scholar.dickinson.edu/student_honors Part of the Economics Commons, Environmental Studies Commons, and the International and Area Studies Commons Recommended Citation Elkin, Caroline Erin, "It’s Not Easy Going Green: Kazakhstan’s Transition to a Green Economy" (2015). Dickinson College Honors Theses. Paper 200. This Honors Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Dickinson Scholar. It has been accepted for inclusion by an authorized administrator. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. It’s Not Easy Going Green: Kazakhstan’s Transition to a Green Economy By Caroline Erin Elkin Submitted in partial fulfillment of the Honors Requirements for the Department of International Studies Professor Michael Fratantuono INST 401 20 December 2014 Elkin 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION/METHODOLOGY 3 COUNTRY OVERVIEW 5 OIL IN KAZAKHSTAN 9 ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY PRE-CRISES 13 THE UNITED NATIONS’ GREEN ECONOMY 15 KAZAKHSTAN GOES GREEN 18 STRATEGY 2050 20 WEAK CONCEPTS OF GREENNESS 23 CASE STUDY: KAZAKHSTAN’S EMISSIONS TRADING SYSTEM 28 CRISIS ON THE HORIZON?: GREEN COMMITMENTS IN 2014 31 CONCLUSION 36 WORKS CITED 39 Elkin 3 INTRODUCTION/METHODOLOGY Since Kazakhstan became an independent nation in 1991, its economy has grown enormously thanks to its oil and natural gas resources. Simultaneously, its government espouses a number of commitments and policies related to environmental protections and sustainability. In 2012, President Nursultan A.