At the UN Climate Conference ending in Glasgow, Russian officials urged its participants for the practicality of climate policy, refrained from overly ambitious promises and insisted on the importance of removing green projects from sanctions. In addition, high-ranking Russian delegates actively supported the idea of recognizing nuclear energy as carbon neutral and, taking into account the potential of the Russian Federation, emphasized the importance of forests and forest policy for solving climate problems.
The Russian delegation to the UN Climate Conference in Glasgow (COP26), which is due to end this weekend, was one of the largest on the list – more than 300 people. By comparison, the US had 165 registered delegates. As a result, fewer Russians arrived, including due to delays in the issuance of visas, but on the whole, such Russia’s interest in the topic of climate is unprecedented. The reason for this, in addition to global problems, was the potential risks for the Russian economy due to the prospects for the introduction of cross-border carbon regulation in the EU.
The Russian pavilion worked during all two weeks at the conference, where information was presented on Russian forest policy, climate change in the Arctic, green financing, as well as projects of Russian business in the field of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In official speeches, representatives of the Russian Federation (including Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk, Presidential Adviser for Climate Ruslan Edelgeriev and Head of the Ministry of Economy Maxim Reshetnikov) emphasized that climate issues are of the utmost importance for Russia, because climate change in the country is taking place at a rate of two and a half. times higher than the world average.
The Russian Federation presented at COP26 the strategy for socio-economic development with low GHG emissions until 2050, approved by the government on November 1, spoke about plans to achieve carbon neutrality until 2060, reported on the country’s green taxonomy, and emphasized the importance of offsetting the absorption of the forest sector.
According to Maxim Reshetnikov, the priority of the Russian Federation in negotiations on the economic mechanisms of the Paris Agreement is to achieve technological neutrality, issues of mutual recognition of the carbon unit, as well as the exemption of climate projects and international funding tracks from sanctions and other international restrictions. In general, at COP26, Russian representatives spoke in almost every speech about the importance of removing green projects from sanctions.
Summing up the results of COP26, Rosatom CEO Alexei Likhachev said that the conference ended the discussion about whether nuclear power should be in the carbon balance, recognizing its important role in low-carbon transformation. Head of the HSE Department of World Economy Igor Makarov, who was also present at the UN negotiations, told Kommersant that “in such formulations it is still an exaggeration,” but noted that nuclear energy was indeed represented quite widely and the overwhelming majority of national delegations recognize its place in a portfolio of low-carbon solutions.
The Russian delegates talked a lot about the importance of a practical approach to climate issues.
“The key question is who will pay for decarbonization?” – Maxim Reshetnikov wondered. Deputy Energy Minister Pavel Sorokin confirmed that decarbonization priorities for the Russian energy sector are, first of all, increasing the absorptive capacity of forests and other ecosystems and technologies for capturing CO2, and only then – directly reducing emissions. Sergey Vakulenko, Head of the Strategy and Innovation Department of Gazprom Neft, in his speech focused on the fact that oil and gas will be needed even in the new low-carbon economy – as reserve capacities.
“Russia looked quite organic against the background of developed countries, which created the illusion of fighting the climate crisis, defending their national interests and the interests of the fossil industry,” Vasily Yablokov, head of the Climate and Energy Department of the Russian branch of Greenpeace, commented on the conference. Russia clearly did not oppose the abandonment of coal, it only drew attention to the fact that the abandonment of subsidies for fossil fuels goes beyond the scope of climate change. ” At the same time, according to the expert, Russia tried not to make too ambitious promises and honestly admitted that it would not be possible to get away from fossil fuels for economic reasons, that achieving carbon neutrality at any cost is unacceptable, since there are other global problems, including the lack of access to energy and poverty.
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