Foreword

In December 2022, the President of Uzbekistan approved the Green Growth Strategic Framework Programme and Action Plan to transition to a green economy by 2030. The action plan has eight national GGIs and targets against which the Ministry of Economy and Finance will monitor progress. In this context, this report helps answer four essential questions:

• • Is Uzbekistan becoming more efficient in using natural resources and environmental services?
• • Is the natural asset base of Uzbekistan’s economy being maintained?
• • Does greening economic growth generate quality of life for people in Uzbekistan?
• • How does greening growth generate economic opportunities in Uzbekistan?

The findings in this report identify several positive trends towards green growth:

• • Carbon, energy, material and water productivity are rising, resulting in fewer emissions and more efficient energy and resource use alongside economic growth.
• • The share of forest and protected natural areas is increasing, while agricultural land is decreasing as a proportion of total land area.

Despite progress, several challenges remain:

• • Non-renewable fossil fuels dominated 99% of the energy supply mix in 2021.
• • Water stress levels are high and rising.
• • Only a quarter of solid waste produced is recycled.
• • Air pollution is one of the worst in the world.

Acknowledgement

The monitoring report is the outcome of joint efforts from Westminster International University in Tashkent (WIUT), the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MoEF) and the Statistics Agency Under The President of the Republic of Uzbekistan (SA), working together to establish a reliable monitoring system towards a green economy.

The report was developed in the framework of the OECD project Improving the Incentive Frameworks and Capacity for Green Climate-Related Investment in Eastern Partnership Countries and Central Asia with financial support from Germany’s Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety through its International Climate Initiative (IKI). Isabella Neuweg (OECD) managed the project. For the WIUT, the work furthers the OECD project that started in 2021 to support Uzbekistan's COVID-19 green recovery efforts, which paved the way for further contributions to a green economy.

The monitoring report was prepared by a team of experts from the WIUT under the leadership of Bakhrom Mirkasimov (Rector) and Etenesh B. Asfaw (Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Policy Research and Outreach). The research team includes Etenesh Asfaw, Nargiza Alimukhamedova, Omonjon Ganiev, Zohid Askarov, Akhtem Useinov, Angelo Battaglia, Kamilla Sultanova and Abdulaziz Dusbabaev. The work was supervised by Isabella Neuweg, Irina Belkahia and Krzysztof Michalak (all OECD Environment Directorate).