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Mining and metallurgical enterprise: 6 carbon tracks and strategy until 2036

A large industrial company is growing, but its carbon quota is not. In 2026, Qazaq Carbon launched a carbon asset development program for the Kazakhstan mining and metallurgical enterprise. Its task is to close part of the quota deficit with its own projects and attract external money to reduce emissions without increasing the company’s capital costs. Let's look at how the program is structured: six directions, a funnel with control points and a 10-year carbon strategy.

Challenge: production growth against a fixed quota

The enterprise is increasing its production, and the quota in the national emissions trading system (KazETS) remains the same. At the same time, emissions fees are rising for the biggest polluters, and investors and lenders are increasingly asking about climate strategy.

Buying missing quotas every year means paying for the past. The company needed a plan that turns this workload into a portfolio of its own projects and gives access to external financing.

An industrial company doesn't need another report. It needs to understand which of its own sites, dumps and lands could become carbon projects, how much it would generate and who would pay for it. We build the program so that the company makes every decision based on numbers, not promises.

Approach: Funnel with Checkpoints

It would be redundant to build a complete financial model in all areas at once: some of them will be eliminated on a methodological issue. Therefore, the program is designed like a funnel. Each next step begins only after a written decision of the company.

Phase 1 - diagnosis and screening (45 days)

Visiting sites, checking complementarity in each area, rough assessment of potential, draft carbon strategy.

Phase 2 - Feasibility Study and Financial Model

Three scenarios for each selected track, Go/No-Go decision separately for each.

Phase 3 - design documentation

PDD and application for Non-Objection Letter of the MENR on tracks with the “Go” decision.

Phase 4 — registration

Submission to an accredited validation body or for offset approval by the MENR.

A negative conclusion on the track is also a result: the company finds out about it in 45 days, and not after investing in the design.

Six directions and two “pockets” of value

The program includes six candidate areas:

RES outside quota capacities

New stations that are not included in the quota installation.

Energy efficiency of production

The most energy-intensive processes and installations.

Reclamation of dumps and tailings

Along with plans to re-extract the minerals.

Methane utilization

Technical suitability of existing installations.

Forest plantations on the lands of the State Forest Fund

The company acts as an investor and recipient of carbon units.

CO₂ Capture Assessment (CCS/DAC)

Reasonable conclusion about the applicability of the technology.

Each track that passes the selection is distributed into one of two “pockets”, without double counting:

  • KAZTV:projects cover part of the quota deficit directly.
  • Voluntary Market and Article 6 of the Paris Agreement:the sale of carbon units subsidizes the closure of the remainder.

What does the company get?

For Qazaq Carbon, the program is a path from diagnostics to registered projects. As a result, the company receives:

  • 10-year carbon strategy with action plan:tied to corporate goals and to Kazakhstan's national targets for 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060.
  • Investment master plan:justification of the need for financing for the issuance of green bonds.
  • Document packages for validation:for each track that received a “Go” - PDD, calculations and assumptions sufficient for submission without significant modification.
  • One point of responsibility:independent experts on renewable energy sources, energy efficiency, methane and land use work within the scope of the Qazaq Carbon agreement, and the company receives one agreed report.

Results:

The carbon asset development program changes the approach of an industrial company to the climate agenda: from purchasing missing quotas to its own portfolio of projects and external financing. A funnel with milestones gives the company control at every step, and a 10-year strategy links individual projects into a single plan.