Russian Government Approves Kyoto Climate Protocol
MOSCOW, Russia, October 1, 2004 (ENS) - The Russian government yesterday adopted a bill on the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol on global climate change and decided to submit it to the parliament, the Duma.
Parliament is expected to pass the legislation, as President Vladimir Putin has given the international agreement his stamp of approval. Ninety days after the Duma ratifies the protocol to limit the emission of six greenhouse gases linked to global warming, it will enter into force.
Although 124 countries have ratified the protocol, it cannot take effect until countries accounting for 55 percent of industrialized nations' carbon dioxide emissions in 1990 ratify.
Russia's 17 percent share of those 1990 emissions are needed to push the protocol over the 55 percent threshold.
The European Commission welcomed "warmly" the Russian government's decision to submit the ratification proposal to the Duma. The European Union ratified the protocol last year and has already been reducing its emissions although the protocol is not yet in force.
Commission President Romano Prodi of Italy said, “Once the Duma confirms the ratification it means that the Kyoto Protocol will enter into force. This is a huge success for the international fight against climate change. The Commission looks forward to working with Russia on carrying out the Protocol."
President Prodi and the Commission have pushed the issue repeatedly in different contacts with Russian authorities over the past months. "Only last week the President held a long telephone conversation with President Putin on the Kyoto Protocol," the Commission said in a statement Thursday.
“I have always held the view that this is in the best interest of Russia and its people," Prodi said.
"Global climate change is a fight that our generation has to win for the sake of the future of our children and this planet. We have no right to go back on our promises. The Kyoto Protocol is the best available weapon in the hands of the international community. Today President Putin has sent a strong signal of his commitment and sense of responsibility," he said.
The Kyoto Protocol permits Parties to trade greenhouse gas emissions credits and Russia is entering the market with good reserves of quotas for greenhouse gas emissions, government officials say. According to the Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environment Monitoring, the nation has reserves amounting to 2,360 million metric tons.
Russian Kyoto negotiators secured an additional quota of 605 million tons, as Russia's vast forests absorb a great deal of carbon dioxide.
"The state quota is huge and it even can be used as a strategic reserve for the country," Anatoly Zelinsky, a board member of the Unified Energy Systems electricity giant, told the Russian news agency Novosti.
According to Russia's mid-term forecast for power engineering development, by 2012, the end of the first five year protocol commitment period, greenhouse gas emissions are expected to fall by 12 to - 20 percent compared with their 1990 levels, the government said yesterday.
Russia's commitment under the protocol is to keep emission levels flat as compared with the 1990 baseline year.
The Gazprom gas monopoly said its companies would reduce emissions by 45 percent in this period. The state owned utility RAO UES and Gazprom account for 38 percent of the overall greenhouse gas emissions in Russia. The companies say they will be able to cover the costs of their technological retooling by selling their emission quotas.
The utility and transport sectors account for 40 percent of the country's emissions. The companies that have invested in utility and transport enterprises are expected to receive investment from Europe in exchange for reducing their carbon dioxide emissions.
The top United Nations environment official said the Russian move is "cause for celebration." Klaus Toepfer, executive director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) said, "Russia's green light will allow the climate train to leave the station so we can really begin addressing the biggest threat to the planet and its people. I hope other nations, some of whom like Russia have maybe been in the past reluctant to ratify, will now join us in this truly global endeavor."
In Australia, Russia’s move to ratify the Kyoto Protocol is seen as having the potential to open up renewable industry development opportunities for Australian companies if Australia too ratifies the protocol.
Australia has followed the United States in its refusal to ratify. The leaders of both countries have viewed the protocol as too expensive for their economies to bear. Both leaders - Australia's Prime Minister John Howard, and the U.S. President George W. Bush, are standing for election within the next 32 days.
Ian Lloyd-Besson, President of the Australian Wind Energy Association (AusWEA) said today, "Governments around the world are committing to higher renewable energy targets and ratifying the Kyoto Protocol. Australia, the worst greenhouse polluter per person in the world, has an obligation to do the same."
But Lloyd-Besson warned that Australia could miss out on industry opportunities without a commitment from the next federal government to ratify the protocol and increase the Mandatory Renewable Energy Target (MRET).
“Not only would an increased MRET and ratification of the Kyoto Protocol contribute significantly to the fight against global warming, but these measures would also open up the Australian renewable energy market to the global clean energy boom,” he said.
The U.S. government did not officially comment on the Russian government's decision to ratify the protocol.
Toepfer said the extreme weather events associated with global warming may convince the holdout nations to come into the Kyoto fold.
"Recent months, in which a series of hurricanes have devastated the Caribbean and the parts of the Eastern United States, show that an international alliance against climate change and for the reduction of gases is even more necessary than when Kyoto was signed in 1997," Toepfer said.
"These kinds of natural disasters, with their appalling loss of life and significant economic costs, are likely to become even more frequent and extreme unless global warming is effectively checked."
The Russian action will "breathe new life into the international climate negotiations" which resume in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in December," Toepfer said.
Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2004. All Rights Reserved.
Marta Panero, Ph.D.
Project Manager, Harbor Project
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