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The Climate Depends on the U.S. Participation, Russia's Economy
A UN conference on climate change is taking place on the Indonesian island of Bali December 3-14. It is being attended by 12,000 officials from 190 countries, who are trying to agree on changes to the Kyoto Protocol after 2012. The Russian Ministry of Economic Development and Trade has warned that if its obligations will slow Russian economic growth, Russia will not ratify it.
Economics Ministry official Vsevolod Gavrilov told Interfax news agency yesterday that Russia has finally drafted the necessary documents for joint implementation projects, that is, attracting investment in exchange for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The limit will be comparatively low – 300 million tons for five years. About ten joint implementation projects will be approved by the end of the year in electricity generation, public utilities, heavy industry and pollution management.
The Kyoto Protocol is a protocol to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change signed in 1997 that came into force when it was ratified by Russia in 2002. Signatories agree to reduce their greenhouse missions by 5 percent between 2008 and 2012 compared to 1990. Gavrilov stated yesterday that Russia will enter a phase of “strict implementation” of the protocol in 2008. Russia's greenhouse emissions in 2004 were 30 percent lower than in 1990, so its implementation will not be a strain for it.
The Bali conference may not bring the results hoped for. “The majority of countries, including Russia and the United States, are not willing to take on the obligations for further reduction of the volume of emissions,” opines Igor Chestin, head of the Russian division of the World Wildlife Fund. “Without America's participation, India and China won't join either,” World Bank representative Alexander Averchenkov added. The administration of U.S. President George W. Bush has been strongly opposed to the “new” Kyoto Protocol. The U.S. will participate in it only if a Democratic president is elected in 2008.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Dec. 07, 2007
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