Green Campus and Environmental Policy

Al-Farabi Kazakh National University is one of the leading universities with a strong reputation in the Central Asian region, including Mongolia, northwestern China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, the northwestern part of India, the northern part of Pakistan, the northeastern part of Iran, as well as areas of Asian Russia.

These countries, as countries in transition economies, are experiencing a number of difficulties in solving environmental problems. There are "classic" problems in the region, such as environmental pollution, excess household and industrial waste, loss of biodiversity, soil erosion and land degradation, and problems of access to fresh water. It should also be noted that the specific ones peculiar to this particular region are the drying up of the Aral Sea, pollution with rocket fuel (heptyl), uranium waste, and radiation pollution associated with nuclear tests at the Semipalatinsk test site.

In the presence of such problems, the ideology and educational mission of society, as well as innovations in the field of ecology, play a huge role. KazNU named after Al-Farabi, assumes the role of a leader in the Central Asian region, able to form an ecosystem around itself with deeply penetrating ties in the fields of education, science and production, focused on achieving sustainable development goals.

Al-Farabi Kazakh National University was the first university in Central Asia to join the UN Academic Impact Program (in 2012) and to this day heads the United Nations Academic Impact global hub on sustainable development. Since 2016, the university has been participating annually in the World Ranking of "Green Universities" (UI Green Metric World Ranking Universities).

In 2022-2023, the Treasury, based on the developed policies and strategies on this issue and supported by the policies of the state as a whole, carries out their systematic and comprehensive implementation in all directions:

1) Organization of structural units responsible for the promotion of the SDGs and environmental issues, in particular.

Over the past 12 months, the Biosphere Ecology Laboratory and the COMSATS Center for Climate and Sustainability have been working at the university, and international, interdisciplinary UNESCO chairs on sustainable development are functioning at the Faculties of Geography, Environmental Management and Journalism.

2) Educational mission

In the process of developing a "model plan for the sustainable development of universities", jointly with the Kazakh Geographical Society, the project "Green Office of Universities". As part of the creation of a network of green offices, memoranda of cooperation were signed with 28 universities and research institutes; an information and analytical knowledge base on sustainable development and the transition to a "green economy" in the world and in Kazakhstan was developed http://greenbridgework.kaznu.kz/ and posted on the platform. Since 2022, work has been underway to create the author's concept of the "ECO Office" https://greenoffice.kaznu.kz/.

KazNU named after Al-Farabi, has launched massive open online courses on waste disposal, climate change and others and conducts advanced training courses (including a course for journalists on "Environmental Journalism within the Framework of Sustainable Development Goals") in partnership with the Ministry of Information and Public Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Ministry of Ecology, Geology and Natural Resources of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Educational work is being carried out on social networks. For example, the Telegram channel "Air Quality Science" regularly publishes up-to-date information on air pollution issues.

3) Interaction with government agencies

University staff regularly act as experts at the request of industry departments and international organizations (National Scientific Councils, UNITARproject, and the member of the City Planning Council of the city of Almaty (Nassiba Baimatova). The university staff participates in the preparation of sections on research in the field of ecology" of the National Report on Science (Pavlichenko L. M.).

4) Scientific research in the field of environmental monitoring and data analysis

Numerous studies have been conducted in the field of environmental monitoring. A comprehensive assessment of the state of ecosystems in territories affected by the rocket and space activities of the Baikonur commodore for 15 years has been carried out, and maps of rocket fuel pollution have been compiled, including 1,1-dimethylhydrazine and its derivatives related to Class I toxic substances. Scientific projects such as "Development of a research program to improve air quality in the cities of Nur-Sultan (Astana) and Almaty using modern analytical methods and modeling tools" and "Comprehensive assessment of air pollution in Almaty: identification of sources, spatial and temporal analysis" are being implemented. The university staff published 518 articles in the period from 2020 to 2023 in the direction of Environmental Science, from which the article "Assessing air quality changes in large cities during COVID-19 lockdowns" was cited (218 times): The impacts of traffic-free urban conditions in Almaty, Kazakhstan" (Kerimray, A., Baimatova, N., Ibragimova, O.P. and 4 more, 2020, Science of the Total Environment).

5) Scientific developments and technological solutions to environmental pollution issues

• Methods for the determination and screening of intoxicants in soil, water, and plants have been developed.
• Sorbents for water purification have been developed.
• Projects are being implemented: «Development of precise methods for gas chromatographic determination of volatile organic compounds in environmental objects at the sampling site using solid-phase microextraction», «Development of a methodology for determining weighted average concentrations of organic pollutants for monitoring the atmospheric air of the city of Almaty», «Development of "green" methods for the determination of pesticides in environmental objects based on vacuum solid-phase microextraction»,  «Effective development of methods for analyzing environmental objects based on vapor-phase and solid-phase microextraction using computer modeling».

6) international cooperation

Our university strives to become a world leader in action for sustainable development and provides for the expansion of international cooperation. The main scientific developments are aimed at uniting partner universities for a favorable solution to problems in the fields of sustainable development and ecology in the Central Asian region. Thus, a policy of quality education and a joint program of the Earth Institute of Columbia University (New York, USA) and KazNU - MDP/Global Classroom were developed, uniting 24 leading universities around the world. MDP/Global Classroom is a web-based course that promotes interdisciplinary collaboration and allows students and teachers from all over the world to participate in collective assignments and practical training. The university leads and actively participates in the international movement "Nevada-Semey" and participates in other international projects. We strive to ensure that the university becomes a world leader in the field of environmental sustainability, both academically and operationally. We have already started this work by developing a methodology to compare our academic contribution to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and we have extensive experience in research and teaching in the field of climate change, as well as involving the broad masses of students in this context. We have also already achieved ambitious operational goals to reduce the negative impact on the environment.

The idea of creation

SDG policy to combat climate change

STRATEGY for achieving carbon neutrality and Sustainable Development 2035

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STRATEGY FOR ACHIEVING CARBON NEUTRALITY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF THE NON – PROFIT JSC "AL-FARABI KAZNU" UNTIL 2035

Policy on the sustainable development of scientific research. UN programmes

Sustainable investment policy in the field of science

Sustainable investment policy

SDG 13: Combating climate change

1. Plasma-fuel systems for improving the performance of thermal power plants and pulverized coal boilers. Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor of the Department of Thermophysics and Technical Physics of KazNU. Al-Farabi Vladimir Messerle invented a plasma fuel system (PTS) for efficient combustion of low-grade coal in thermal power plants and boiler houses. – Judge for yourself, – he says, – if you install PTS on all 240 pulverized coal boilers of Kazakhstan's thermal power plants, the economic effect of their use will reach more than 50 billion tenge per year. And this is not counting the environmental effect, which consists in a significant reduction in mechanical combustion of fuel and harmful emissions. The development is relevant, considering that in Kazakhstan almost all energy coals are low-grade. It is for this reason that today at thermal power plants up to 10-15% of coal does not burn, but flies out into the chimney and poisons the atmosphere. These are unburned carbon and flue gases with nitrogen and sulfur oxides, which, combining with water vapor in the atmosphere, fall to earth in the form of acid rain. The PTS just solves this problem with the help of a plasma torch, which heats up the air to 5-6 thousand. degrees, which allows you to ignite high-ash coal with a plasma torch even in a cold furnace. As a result, it burns almost completely. There will be no black smoke and soot, which can be observed at any power plant today, when using plasma torches. Harmful emissions will also decrease: nitrogen oxides – by 50%; sulfur oxides – by 30-40%. The advantage of plasma technology is also that with rapid ignition and more complete combustion of coal, the height of the boiler can be reduced by 25-30%, which will significantly reduce the metal consumption of power equipment. Supporting videos, documents above the figures: video presentation, PFS Kazakhstan Мессерле, coal processing project.

2. Plasma chemical processing of carbon-containing waste.  Supervisor: Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor A.B. Ustimenko. The peculiarity of the technologies is that the incoming raw materials are gamified in a plasma reactor or an inclined rotating gas generator reactor in the mode of super adiabatic gorenje with a lack of oxygen, obtaining a combustible generator gas, which can then be burned in various energy devices with high energy efficiency.. project about waste, presentation, video presentation of the project

3. Sensor for fire and gas safety Greenhouse Gas Emissions Project

ONLINE COURSES ON SDGs FROM LEADING TEACHERS OF Al-Farabi KAZAKH NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

• Energy-efficient waste disposal technologies
• Physico-chemical methods in waste management
• Basics of waste disposal
• Reuse of waste
• Coverage of climate change and sustainable development
• Installations and technologies for generating energy from waste