Russia maintains goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060, strategy implementation plan now being updated - Reshetnikov
MOSCOW. Nov 30 (Interfax) - Russia maintains the goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2060, and the goal could have been achieved sooner absent any sanctions, Economic Development Minister Maxim Reshetnikov said in an interview with Interfax dedicated to the start of the UN Climate Conference.
Reshetnikov said that the plan for implementing the concept of low-carbon development until 2050 is currently being updated, and issues of accessibility to technologies and project payback are being reviewed.
"Yes, commitment to the goal is confirmed in the updated climate doctrine," Reshetnikov said when answering whether Russia maintains the goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2060 in the face of growing sanctions.
"Of course, the absence of sanctions and unimpeded access to financial resources would help achieve reality even earlier," the minister noted.
According to Reshetnikov, "a very large part of our resources, including investment, is diverted to the restructuring of economic chains" in the current conditions.
Reshetnikov said that the plan for implementing the low-carbon development strategy of the Russian Federation until 2050, from which the goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2060 follows, "for obvious reasons is currently being updated."
"We are collecting the positions of departments, the Environment Ministry, Russia's Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring (Roshydromet), and experts. The best scientists in the country, and the Russian Academy of Sciences, are working with us. The decision on when to approve and update it will be taken by the government," Reshetnikov said.
"The assessment of the availability of technologies, the issue of the cost of resources, the payback of projects are being revised. It will be much more difficult to move. However, we proceed from the fact that the situation is gradually normalizing," the minister said about updating the plan.