KAZAKHSTAN ENERGY WEEK-2025
New Energy Order: Focus on Middle Powers
Concept Note
On October 2-4th, 2025, Astana will host the Kazakhstan Energy Week-2025 (KEW), a flagship event of the KAZENERGY Association (venue: The Palace of Independence).
The KAZENERGY forums are widely recognized to be the key energy industry international discussion platform of Central Asia and the Caspian region. The forums bring together more than 2.5 thousand delegates representing over 300 companies from 50+ countries. Over the years, powerful politicians, business leaders and influencers from the world’s energy sector are among the guests of the KEW forums.
The KEW-2025 will be a historically large-scale event which coincides with the 20th Anniversary of the KAZENERGY Association celebrated this year.
We highly appreciate all the support for the Forum kindly provided by the Presidential Administration, the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan, in specific by the Ministries of Energy, Foreign Affairs and others. Assistance by the Foreign Investors’ Council, chaired by the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan is deeply recognized.
And, of course, our special gratitude goes to the sponsors of the Forum and the members of the KAZENERGY Association for their very targeted and practical support in making this important event possible.
By 2050 the global energy demand is projected to grow by 11%-18%. The developing countries will generate the largest share of this growth, given the population increase and the maturing middle class. The relocation of production facilities from developed economies to developing countries will also contribute.
The regions represented mostly by the emerging markets, such as ASEAN, Central Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America, will account for 66%-95% of the energy demand growth. As the key energy demand sources, these regions will have a more powerful position at the international arena. This situation will cause a significant redistribution of energy resources.
How successful the world is in addressing energy demand growth is one of the key factors for the global energy transition. Along with conventional ones, there will be need for new fossil fuels as well as renewables. Nuclear power is also expected to play an important role in the longer-term horizon.
Such an environment requires urgent but balanced measures. For example, green energy shift through renewables should be implemented in a well-balanced manner to avoid a negative impact on energy system sustainability and energy security. Lengthy project implementation and higher interest rates can emerge as common challenges for any energy source. It should also be considered. In addition, the real project capacity is often less than the declared one.
Therefore, the global community will inevitably face a number of complex challenges. Obviously, the demand beyond expectations is among the most significant but not the only one.
Kazakhstan Energy Week – 2025 will be held after ten years since the historic Paris Climate Agreement was adopted. Summarizing the results of the latest COPs many experts declared a new phase of the global energy transition. COP28 in 2023, for example, culminated in a call for eliminating the basic source of the climate crisis. In particular, they emphasized that the fossil fuel epoch had come to its “beginning of the end”, and governments and business communities worldwide are expected to take immediate practical steps for the proper transformation of their economies and businesses.
However, it’s still unclear what kind of impact the intensive use by the US Administration of its own fossil energy resources declared as a new policy and Washington withdrawal from the Paris Agreement may have.
On the one hand, Central Asia may face a green economy funding cutback. On the other hand, a stronger role of the new players in the region may bring new opportunities. From this perspective, Kazakhstan’s proactive position on the global climate agenda and relevant initiatives by the Head of State are expected to be much more demanded.
Moreover, KEW-2025, titled “New Energy Order: Focus on Middle Powers,” will be held amid a complex geopolitical environment.
The turmoil in Europe has been supplemented with high-profile international steps by the new US administration as well as the outlined transformation of the Euro-Atlantic landscape. All these factors bring uncertainties to the prospects of the trade links, which have been affected even without that. On top of it, the ongoing disbalancing of the situation in the Middle East may involve not just a significant volatility of energy resources price but also drive the global and regional players towards taking advantage of the moment to accommodate traditional transit transport routes of the region to their own interests.
As for the middle powers, they enjoy a unique status. On one hand, many of them are the largest traditional suppliers of diverse energy resources to the global market; on the other hand, these countries become important energy demand sources.
Central Asia is an outstanding example. Along with vast oil and gas reserves, the region possesses huge potential to develop wind and solar power. Besides, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have started taking practical steps towards construction of nuclear power generation capacities. And this is quite reasonable, considering the growing electric power demand in the region and 43% share of the Kazakh uranium in the global supplies. Kazakhstan also has important opportunities to produce green hydrogen.
According to President Tokayev, even without a worldwide influence which is typical for the global players, the middle powers, such as Kazakhstan, possess economic strength, young and energetic population, increasing middle class, rich natural resources, transit potential and political will which are essential for building up their international weight in the area of energy security, green transition and supply chain sustainability.
Evidently, such a position strengthens the geopolitical importance of the middle powers as new policy-making centers. They can and will increasingly impact the global energy transition process.
With this reality, the KEW-2025 discussion will be based on the world energy policy’s most relevant aspects of special practical importance. The Forum will be tuned to shape professional approaches to the global challenges which are vital for all members of the international community. It will have direct input in the renewal of the global energy agenda.
The KEW-2025 will focus on the most relevant subjects of the global energy transition, including but not limited to:
- role of the middle powers in the new energy order;
- balance between energy and ecology;
- climate change and sustainable energy;
- carbon neutrality;
- women in energy;
- investment in energy sector;
- AI and digitalization;
- nuclear power;
- alternative energy sources;
- diversification of transport routes;
- petrochemical industry;
- applied science in the energy industry.
The KEW-2025 structure is designed to allow guests and delegates to attend as many sessions as possible.
The international coverage of the Forum’s programme has been notably expanded. This year it will be enriched with the sessions under the auspices of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the League of Arab States as well as a round table on investment in the Central Asia’s energy infrastructure.
Also, the KEW-2025 will traditionally include the plenary session, sector-specific interactive panels and round tables, presentations of investment opportunities, the exposition of latest achievements KAZENERGY EXPO and much more.
In addition, the KEW-2025 participants will enjoy all necessary infrastructure for expanding business contacts, holding meetings and negotiations with partners.
We are looking forward to welcoming you
at the Kazakhstan Energy Week-2025!