Today the Russian government is examining a draft federal law on ratification of the Kyoto Protocol on global climate change, which can come into force only if Russia ratifies.
Deputy Foreign Minister Yury Fedotov and Alexander Bedritsky, head of the Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring, will present the Kyoto report to the ministerial meeting, the government press service said.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Yury Fedotov (Photo courtesy Government of Russian Federation)
"The issue with the Kyoto Protocol is difficult, with political, practical, economic and environmental aspects," Fedotov told the Interfax news agency. "But I can confirm that the technicalities of ratification are being studied at a ministerial level."
President Vladimir Putin last week instructed his ministers to sign the Kyoto ratification documents. When the ministers finish with them, the ratification documents will be sent to Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov who will forward them to Parliament's lower house, the Duma. Within 90 days of the Duma endorsing the Protocol, it will come into force.
Under the terms of the protocol industrialized nations responsible for 55 percent of carbon dioxide emissions in 1990 must ratify the agreement for it to take effect. To date, the protocol has attracted countries responsible for 44 percent.
The world's top greenhouse gas emitter, the United States, pulled out in 2001 when President George W. Bush took office, so Russia's 17 percent share is now the deciding factor.
Ministers will start negotiations with potential investors within the next few months and begin talks on co-operation with other countries that have ratified the protocol, such as the European Union and Japan.
Industrial and traffic emissions in the northern Russian city of Norilsk, population 300,000. (Photo courtesy Mining Technology)
Next, the ministers responsible for natural resources, energy, and industry as well as the statistics and weather forecast agencies will start drawing up an inventory of greenhouse gas emissions in Russia.
Russia's obligation under the protocol is to keep its emission of six greenhouse gases at 1990 emission levels. European countries must reduce theirs by eight percent of 1990 levels.
One analyst says the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol is an important part of a trade between Putin and the West - Kyoto in exchange for World Trade Organization membership for Russia, a deal the Russian authorities proposed for the first time in September 2003.
Some observers say there is another side to the story - Russia is readying itself for a change of leadership in the United States after the November 2 election.
"Putin is going ahead with Kyoto now in order to be ready for cooperation with the next U.S. President if the Democrats win," said Vladimir Slivyak, co-chairman of the environmental advocacy organization Ecodefense. "If Kerry wins, the U.S. and Russia may ratify nearly at the same time and so make a good public relations action."
"Russia is on track to ratify Kyoto, and people who were betting against the protocol should change their views now," said Jennifer Morgan, director of WWF’s International Climate Change Program. "As the impacts of global warming rise, the need for ratification has grown increasingly more urgent."
In the West, the nuclear industry promotes itself as climate friendly because the generation of nuclear power does not produce greenhouse gases the way generating electricity by burning fossil fuels does. But the Russian nuclear industry is not expected to benefit from the Kyoto Protocol.
"We do not expect big profits for the nuclear industry inside Russia after ratifying Kyoto," Slivyak said. "The nuclear industry should not participate in Kyoto mechanisms because it produces nuclear waste, which it has no solution for."
Traffic is heavy in Moscow (Photo courtesy Richard Brothwell)
Mechanisms for reducing greenhouse gases available to Parties to the Kyoto Protocol include Joint Implementation, whereby a country invests in emissions reduction or sequestration projects in other countries with emissions targets and earns emission reduction units (ERUs) which can be credited on its own national emissions target.
The Clean Development Mechanism results in certified emission reductions (CERs) created through projects in countries without targets. As with ERUs, CERs also can be accredited on national targets.
International Emissions Trading will enable transfers of assigned amount units between countries with emission targets.
The Kyoto mechanisms will likely be used by the state owned nationwide utility RAO EES, which has several expensive projects aimed at improving energy efficiency and making fossil fuel plants cleaner.
RAO and the nuclear industry are in a "deep fight over issues like modernization of energy system, energy prices, national system reform and new plants," says Slivyak. RAO is proposing non-nuclear plants to replace old nukes, while the nuclear industry wants more reactors built.
