Environmentalists Recommend Russia to Stay in Kyoto Protocol

MOSCOW. Oct 18 (Interfax) – Russia should stay in the Kyoto Protocol; its possible secession will have negative consequences, Greenpeace Russia Program Director Ivan Blokov told Interfax on Thursday.

“The Kyoto Protocol is important to Russia. The world will shift to a low-hydrocarbon economy just the same. If we disregard the Kyoto Protocol and keep using fossil fuel, we will lag behind. Would we lag behind forever? I am no judge, but we are far from being the leader already now,” he said.

The failure to benefit from the Kyoto Protocol ratification is the fault of Russia, Blokov said.

“Russia ratified that protocol too late. Bylaws were adopted too late. Coordinated mechanisms of all countries are more important than money in the Kyoto Protocol. In the case of Russia, joint projects – such as the delivery of machines reducing CO2 emissions by foreign companies – would have been a more efficient result of the Kyoto Protocol than money, which is sufficient so far. That would be the modernization we love to talk about,” he said.

Russia won’t become a rogue state if it quits the Kyoto Protocol, Blokov added.

World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Russia head Igor Chestin agreed with Blokov.

“Russia should stay a party of the Kyoto Protocol,” he told Interfax on Thursday.

About 150 Kyoto Protocol projects have been prepared for Russia, and the implementation of some of them has begun, he said.

“Dmitry Medvedev is right: Russia has not had substantial gains. But that happened because it was slow. Documents for starting up the projects had been being drafted for too long. It would be silly to quit the Protocol and these projects now,” he said.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said earlier on Thursday that Russia did not gain much from the Kyoto Protocol and its further involvement in that initiative should be reconsidered.