emissions) and better overall resilience (including for the workforce). This might include transition
energy pricing to reflect full costs of energy provision and internalized externalities, and developing
social protection measures to mitigate potential negative effects on vulnerable groups. Fossil-fuel
subsidies need to be phased out, and consideration should be given to introducing carbon pricing that
includes social protections (e.g. using carbon pricing revenue to mitigate distributional implications for
households, as well as to finance support for structural adjustment of workers and communities).
5. Actively support development of green finance flows to improve resilience, encouraging longer-term horizon for financial decisions. There is a need to promote robust and transparent definitions, standards
and taxonomies for green finance to guide financial allocations and investments. There is also a need to
increase and improve capacities to assess, manage and publicly disclose climate change-related
financial risks. As “green criteria” are soon to be introduced for publicly-funded investment projects,
the same approach needs to be applied for private investments, offering private actors an enabling
business environment, including friendly legal and institutional support, and lucrative commercial
opportunities. Finally, the potential for public finance to catalyze private investment needs to be
enhanced by further empowering public finance institutions, including by increasing their lending
authority and ability to co-invest.
6.
Provide incentives for producers, importers and exporters of green products and services, which may include measures such as preferential tax treatment, loan interest rate subsidies, or reduced VAT . Low import duties on equipment and goods that are not produced or produced in small scales in
Uzbekistan may accelerate the transformation of production capacities and the process of providing
green solutions. At the same time, selectively increasing import duties in parallel with other policy
measures could incentivize domestic industries producing energy-efficient goods in sufficient amounts
and with good quality. The Government could also further expand the practice of “local content
requirements” for major foreign direct investments or projects that involve significant import of goods
and services. Finally, banning the import of environmentally dangerous equipment and goods is an
effective measure to fight against excessive emissions and motivate industries to adapt to new,
sustainable ways of doing business.
7.
