"All industries contribute to pollution, and it's quite alarming," said the Minister of Ecology regarding the smog situation.

“Here, 'right now' is completely inappropriate. Many factors influence this. When only industrial facilities are blamed, I don't entirely agree. The number of vehicles has increased, as has the number of private households,” said Nysanbaev.

However, according to the minister, progress is indeed being made. He cited the gasification of Almaty and Astana as examples. The most effective means of combating smog, the minister stated, is the transition of transport to gas and electricity, and he mentioned China.

“In China, changes have occurred over the past 20 years. Currently, 70–75% of transport has switched to electricity. This includes not just cars, but also mopeds. We need to move away from gasoline vehicles,” the minister said.

At the same time, Nysanbaev did not dismiss pollution from industrial facilities, acknowledging that Kazakhstan's industry largely consists of Soviet-era enterprises.

“The entire industry pollutes, and it pollutes quite significantly,” the minister said.

He identified the transition of industrial enterprises to accessible environmental protection technologies as a solution to this problem. He stated that starting in 2025, 50 major polluting enterprises in Kazakhstan will begin this transition, and by 2031, the rest of the industry should follow suit.

“But this problem cannot be solved in one, two, or three years,” Nysanbaev said.

The minister also commented on the smog in Ust-Kamenogorsk, which nearly reached the scale of an ecological disaster at the end of November. According to Erlan Nysanbaev, two factors converged in the case of the center of East Kazakhstan: emissions from enterprises and the weather.

“It was warm there, even the Irtysh River did not freeze. The humidity was high, and consequently, it all combined with the fog. All this ash becomes damp, sinks lower, literally into a flow layer,” the minister said.

According to Nysanbaev, the transition to environmental protection technologies in 2025 will also affect the polluters in Ust-Kamenogorsk. In this city, the construction of one of three new coal-fired thermal power plants is planned.