Russian govt proposes postponing some environmental initiatives for 2 years due to crisis

MOSCOW. March 10 (Interfax) - The Russian government has proposed postponing a number of environmental projects by 1-2 years due to external sanctions pressure, according to a bill which has been added to the Russian State Duma's electronic database.

One of these initiatives is to delay the completion of a pollutant emission quota allocation experiment by two years - from December 31, 2024, to December 31, 2026 - and to postpone the deadline for enlarging the list of regions participating in this experiment by one year - from September 1, 2022, to September 1, 2023.

The pollutant emission quota allocation experiment began on January 1, 2020. The list of its participants currently includes 12 cities: Bratsk, Krasnoyarsk, Lipetsk, Magnitogorsk, Mednogorsk, Nizhny Tagil, Novokuznetsk, Norilsk, Omsk, Chelyabinsk, Cherepovets, and Chita. As part of the Clean Air federal project, pollutant emissions into the air are expected to decline 20% by 2024.

Another proposal is to postpone the deadline by which 300 enterprises included in a specialized list can apply for comprehensive environmental permits by two years - from December 31, 2022, to December 31, 2024.

The bill also proposes amending the country's law on environmental protection and to postpone by two years the introduction of requirements to install automatic control systems at Category 1 enterprises, which will receive comprehensive environmental permits before March 15, 2022.

In accordance with the proposals, deadlines will be extended for legislative acts "containing more onerous mandatory requirements, which cannot be obeyed due to restrictions on technology, among other factors."