Russian Government Approves Kyoto Environment Treaty Thu 30 September, 2004 13:14
By Darya Korsunskaya MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Russian government approved the Kyoto Protocol Thursday, giving decisive support to the long-delayed climate change treaty that should allow it to come into force worldwide. The controversial pact will now be passed to the Kremlin-dominated parliament for ratification. President Vladimir Putin's government acted despite worries by many officials who say the 1997 U.N. pact, which orders cuts in greenhouse gas emissions to slow global warming, would harm the economy and not protect the environment. The European Union hailed Moscow's decision and seized the moment to urge Washington, whose rejection of the pact in 2001 left it dependent on Russia's approval, to rethink its position. "The fate of the Kyoto protocol depends on Russia. If we ... rejected ratification, we would become the ones to blame (for its failure)," Deputy Foreign Minister Yuri Fedotov told the cabinet meeting expounding what became the prevailing argument. Russia, which accounts for 17 percent share of world emissions, holds the key to Kyoto's success or failure since the United States pulled out. The pact becomes binding once it has been ratified by 55 percent of the signatories which must, among them, account for 55 percent of developed countries' carbon dioxide emissions. Kyoto has surpassed the requirement of signatories after a total of 122 nations have ratified it. But they account only for 44 percent of total emissions without Russia. Russia, a signatory of the pact, initially prevaricated on ratification. But in May Putin backed it in exchange for EU agreement on terms of Moscow's admission to the World Trade Organization. "We warmly welcome the decision," a European Commission spokesman said in Brussels. He added that the EU now expected Washington to review its attitude to the pact. Environmentalists and experts were equally upbeat about Moscow's decision. "Now he (Putin) can go down in history as the savior (of Kyoto)," said Benito Mueller, an expert on the issue for British-based think-tank the Royal Institute for International Affairs. BATTLES STILL AHEAD However, Thursday's meeting left unanswered the question of when parliament could practically debate ratification. Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov, who was absent from the cabinet meeting, predicted a tough battle in the State Duma lower house. "The discussion on the subject is open and debate is likely to be difficult," Fradkov was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying on a visit to the Netherlands. Proponents of Kyoto say that apart from contributing to environmental security worldwide, Russia would be encouraged to upgrade its industries to match new standards and could earn billions of dollars selling excess quotas for gas emissions. But opponents said Russia was likely to be the loser. "The Academy of Science confirms its position that the protocol is not effective and gives us no advantages," the head of the academy's institute on climate change and ecology, Yuri Izrael, told the cabinet meeting. He said the sale of emission quotas could give Russia 400 million euros ($490 million) at the most. "It's big money for me, but a trifle for the state," he said. Putin's economic advisor Andrei Illarionov warned that new environmental standards would cost industry more and risk the Kremlin's plan to double gross domestic product in 10 years. "Many economic calculations show that if the protocol is ratified, the doubling of GDP becomes impossible in the next 10 years," Illarionov said. "This will require changes in the social and economic policies." There is no official time limit for the cabinet to send a ratification request to the Duma. Interfax said ministries linked to the environment were given three months to work out practical measures arising from Russia's obligations.
