Khloponin against charges for excess CO2 emissions
MOSCOW. April 27 (Interfax) - Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Khloponin said he did not support the idea of introducing charges for excess greenhouse gas emissions.
He told journalists that Russia in 2016 is drafting a national strategy for the implementation of the Paris Convention on climate change, which will explore approaches to implementing the convention.
"One government commission developing the Paris agreement will be devoted to drafting and preparing approaches of a national strategy to implement the Paris convention," he said.
"It is an important topic. There are lots of subtle aspects that we must agree on, because we have a coal industry, ferrous metallurgy, non-ferrous metallurgy, and an oil and gas industry. The CEO of BasEl Oleg Deripaska suggested introducing payment for excess CO2 emissions in the framework of the Paris Convention. But we must not forget that if we introduce a charge, all our production becomes uncompetitive and it is here we must think about what to do. Our standards for CO2 absorption are even stricter than those of U.S. companies," Khloponin said.