Russian Government Advances Kyoto Protocol Ratification

MOSCOW, Russia, September 30, 2004 (ENS) - 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)

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)

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.

Klaus Toepfer, the executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), said, "The news today that the government of Russia has endorsed the Protocol and will present it to the Duma, the Russian parliament, is cause for celebration."

"UNEP is convinced that, while only the first step in a long journey towards stabilizing greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere, the Kyoto Protocol is the international instrument for addressing global warming."

"Russian action to ratify it will breathe new life into the international climate negotiations which resume in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in December," said Toepfer. "These must now ensure that developed nations meet their initial emission reduction targets while ensuring sufficient funds are made available to developing countries to allow them to reduce their vulnerability to global warming."

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)

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.