Understanding the climate and net-zero transition risks and opportunities in Kyrgyzstan

This brief summarises Kyrgyzstan-specific findings and recommendations from the reports Opportunities and co-benefits of transitioning to a net-zero economy in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, and Managing climate risks to protect net-zero energy goals.

Key messages of this brief, include:

• Hydropower remains the most cost-competitive source of energy and the focus of much of the investment, yet the country has significant untapped potential for solar and wind energy. While solar PV and wind are still cost-intensive compared to hydropower and fossil fuels, costs have been declining.
• Increasing the share of wind and solar PV offers co-benefits in terms of job creation, reducing emissions, reducing climate risk by diversifying generation portfolios and improving the viability of the energy sector. Doing so will require tackling many policy challenges which impede the transformation of the energy sector.
• Kyrgyzstan’s future energy infrastructure must be designed with increasing demand, including that related to economic growth and diversification, climate change, and other threats like cyber-attacks in mind.
• The country should conduct full semi-quantitative to quantitative all-hazards risk assessments to identify risks over the decades that the infrastructure will operate, and to understand the costs and benefits of mitigation.