When commenting on concerns over the Kyoto protocol's ratification, Sergei Vasilyev, the chairman of the Board of the National Carbon Union (NCU), cited an EU directive on the trade in quotas for greenhouse gas emissions. This directive replaces a free market with a toughly regulated one. According to Mr Vasilyev, "the EU regulates its quota purchasers, distributes purchases in different territories. Some quotas will be purchased in Europe, some in developing countries, in Ukraine, and in Russia. This is not a market but a blatant policy of double standards."
The National Carbon Union partnership was established a year ago and today includes 15 members. Its original objective was to explain to the Russian companies responsible for greenhouse gas emissions the essence of the Kyoto protocol, its mechanisms and ways to attract investment to national production units using the document.
The NCU can count as its members such corporations as Russia's UES, Russky Aluminii, the industrial conglomerate AFK-Sistem, and others. The emissions that the NCU members are responsible for today total about 650 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year (or over one third of Russia's total emissions). Vneshtorgbank co-operates with the NCU as an observer, as it emits no greenhouse gases itself.
Mr Vasilyev described the lack of Russia's "institutional readiness" to adopt the Kyoto protocol as the main obstacle to the document's ratification. "If the West drafted the Kyoto protocol seriously and thoroughly for at least five years, Russia's relevant efforts have been sporadic," Mr Vasilyev said. "There is still no department to promote the Kyoto protocol."
According to him, ratification should be preceded by intense negotiations between Russia and Europe and Japan, as the main champions of the protocol. However, Russia has to clarify its position on the issue to make the negotiations happen. "Only after such talks are held and the Russian position is made clear, all the risks that Vladimir Putin spoke about will be eliminated," Mr Vasilyev is convinced.
One position is clear: Russian business wants to know where, how and in what conditions it will receive the investment promised by the Kyoto protocol mechanisms. "If it is some sort of humanitarian programme that is not designed to modernise individual economies but to reduce man's effect on the climate, through joint efforts and for the sake of global interests, then all the available resources should be invested in the most promising relevant projects," Mr Vasilyev believes.
According to experts, reducing one tonne of emissions in Europe costs over 100 euros, whereas there are many projects in Russia that cost 20 times less (about 5 euros per tonne). These figures clearly show where the money should be invested.
