| JRL HOME | SUPPORT | SUBSCRIBE | RESEARCH & ANALYTICAL SUPPLEMENT | |
Old Saint Basil's Cathedral in MoscowJohnson's Russia List title and scenes of Saint Petersburg
Excerpts from the JRL E-Mail Community :: Founded and Edited by David Johnson

#9
Russia will not ratify Kyoto pact if interests ignored: report

MARRAKECH, Morocco, Nov. 8 (Kyodo) - A Russian lawmaker heading the ecology committee at the country's lower chamber said Moscow will not ratify the 1997 Kyoto Protocol to curb global warming if its national interests are ignored, the Itar-Tass news agency reported Wednesday.

The report from Marrakech, where U.N. climate talks aimed at adopting a rule book for the Kyoto pact are underway, quoted Vladimir Grachev as saying, ''If Russian interests have been ignored, we will not ratify the Kyoto Protocol.''

The State Duma committee chairman said Russia in particular disagrees with other countries on the system to verify countries' achievements in cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

''We disagree those countries, particular developing states, which have not assumed any obligations, will take part in the verification regime. This is unfair,'' the lawmaker was quoted as saying.

The Kyoto Protocol requires industrialized countries to cut their greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by an average of 5.2% between 2008 and 2012, but no obligations have so far been set for developing countries.

Grachev was apparently referring to memberships in several panels under the Kyoto pact to oversee trading of credits earned from emission reductions and examine compliance status of each industrialized country.

In a political accord struck at previous U.N. climate talks in Bonn in July, members from developing countries are expected to outnumber those from industrialized countries.

The Kyoto Protocol will come into force after being ratified by 55 countries, representing 55% of the industrialized countries' carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in 1990. A total of 40 parties, including one industrialized country, Romania, has ratified it.

With the United States, the world's largest CO2 emitter, remaining outside the Kyoto framework, Russia's ratification is essential in bringing the pact into force by the target year 2002.

Back to the Top    Next Article