Heritage and Sustainable Development | 2026
Authors: Zinetullina Z.; Nurgaliyeva A.; Nurmagambetova A.; Mirzhakypova S.; Parmanova R.
DOI: 10.37868/hsd.v8i1.1949
Journal: Heritage and Sustainable Development
Year: 2026
Publisher: Research and Development Academy
Document Type: Article
Open Access: All Open Access; Gold Open Access
Cited by: 0
This article offers the first international empirical assessment of current environmental reporting practices in Kazakhstan's oil industry following the 2019 modernization of the regulatory framework. It uses a mixed-methods research technique that combines qualitative interviews, econometric modeling, and content analysis to evaluate how environmental openness affects company sustainability performance. To measure the quality of disclosure in priority companies (KazMunayGas, TengizChevroil, and CNPC-Aktobe), the GRI (304-306) and TCFD criteria were incorporated with the Environmental Code of Kazakhstan (2021), resulting in the creation of a new composite measure, the environmental reporting quality index. The results show that there is a high level of heterogeneity in these scores (0.58-0.79) due to the structure of ownership, foreign participation and listing status. The regression analysis indicates that the report's quality is negatively correlated with CO₂ Intensity with a significant negative association, which demonstrates that the more successful the reporting standards of companies are, the less they produce emissions and less they cause environmental incidents. Qualitative evidence can reinforce this causal explanation: the more successful the reporting is, the greater investments in monitoring, verifying and controlling systems are. Despite improvements in the regulatory regime, Kazakhstan ranks at the bottom of the transparency list in external assurance, scope 3 coverage and board-level climate governance. This study is part of a replicable research methodology in emerging economies, in that enhanced disclosure serves as an accountability measure and a catalyst for quantifiable changes in environmental performance. © The Author 2026. Published by ARDA. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) that allows others to share and adapt the material for any purpose (even commercially), in any medium with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
Carbon neutrality; Environmental reporting; ESG disclosure; Kazakhstan; Oil industry; Sustainable development