Russia lagging dangerously on climate agenda, greenhouse gas law already obsolete - climate envoy
ST. PETERSBURG. June 4 (Interfax) - Russia is lagging dangerously behind on the climate agenda and the law on greenhouse gases that it is now passing is already obsolete, the Russian president's climate envoy, Ruslan Edelgeriyev said at the Low-carbon Development and Climate Policy session at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on Thursday.
Deputy Economic Development Minister Ilya Torosov said at the session that Russia has already prepared carbon regulation. "The law on restricting greenhouse gases was passed in the second and third readings this week, it is now in the Federation Council," he said.
"It forms the architecture, conceptual framework, creates possibilities for the emergence of voluntary climate projects that businesses wanted. This bill is a compromise with businesses, the main beneficiary is business. Our job, as the government, is to create a toolbox and see how businesses use it," Torosov said.
Edelgeriyev, speaking after Torosov, said Russia "needs to accept the fact that the climate agenda is here to stay."
"We need to understand that in the West this goes back a long time, the European Union spends 20% of its budget on the green transition. There are instances of double standards, there are many contentious subjects, but this doesn't make it any easier for us. Right now in Russia there is denial of the situation. The creation of lovely reports on sustainable development is a road to nowhere, it is the country lagging technologically. We have fallen behind in certain matters," Edelgeriyev said.
"As for developing regulation, we are currently passing a law [on restriction of greenhouse gases] that, sadly, is already obsolete. It doesn't protect, doesn't move the nation forward, everything is voluntary. It's already time to take a different approach. We need to not just introduce a carbon tax, but concurrently lower the mineral extraction tax (MET), so that the tax base for companies does not increase, as is happening in other countries throughout the world. We're creating something of our own, but we don't understand whether this will harmonize with the whole world and global trade. At present we are behind, even hopelessly behind technologically," Edelgeriyev said.
The Russian president's special envoy for relations with international organizations on achieving sustainable development goals, Anatoly Chubais said "[w]e are not just lagging behind, we're at a point where the lag could be reversible or irreversible."
"We're a step away from a technological revolution of such scale that, in my understanding, is comparable only to the industrial revolution in England in the 18th century. In principle, no one is forcing us, but a global redistribution of countries' influence in the world is beginning. And the countries that manage to overcome this resistance will join this process. And those who say 'everything's alright here' will remain in the last century," Chubais said.
He said negotiations on a carbon border tax are underway between Russia and the EU, but this problem is just a "light warm-up."
"A global shift is underway. And not just in oil, gas, coal, even in agriculture, metallurgy. We will soon be living in a different world. In Russia we're just beginning, the first realization has emerged in government and business. But we need to acknowledge this lag and seize the moment," Chubais said.
Representatives of businesses participating in the session said that Russian companies understand the situation developing around the global climate agenda, are taking it seriously and see opportunities for themselves.
Severstal Management CEO Alexander Shevelev said his company sees a new growing global market in which Russian businesses must participate. "And here we need government support. We are taking our steps, they are real," he said.
The head of Shell in Russia, Cederic Cremers, speaking about the measures the oil company is taking in parts of the world where it has a presence, said Shell has been working on the market for a fairly long time and has learned to adapt to various problems and challenges, and it will meet this latest one. Shell is pleased with what is happening in Russia, things are moving in the right direction and need to stay on this path, he said.
Gazprom Neft deputy CEO Vadim Yakovlev said that his company believes the policy of carbon neutrality is a priority and it is stake serious steps on this.
"We're looking at this matter through the prism of opportunities. For example, carbon capture, transport and storage technology, along with hydrogen production are big opportunities for Russia on the carbon neutrality market," Yakovlev said, adding that the oil company sees good opportunities for itself to develop these areas.