MINSK, July 20 (RIA Novosti) - The government of Belarus has approved the country's joining the Kyoto protocol by August 15, the governmental news agency BelTA quoted a senior government official as saying. Alexander Apatsky, the deputy minister of natural resources and environmental protection, said Minsk is expecting to get the opportunity to trade quotas on greenhouse gas emissions, earning from $325 million to $1.750 billion a year from the quota sale.
Current quota prices range from $5 to $25 per metric ton of greenhouse gases.
Belarus intends to use some of its quota proceeds to modernize its energy and communal equipment to reduce emissions and increase quota sales in the future.
The Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko is expected to have his say on the issue, after which the country will make a final decision on ratifying the Kyoto protocol.
