Khristenko said Russia had fulfilled its obligations under the protocol, which requires developed nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 5% of the 1990 levels by 2008-2012.
"We have complied with all restrictions on gas emissions," he said. "However, we are struggling to create a domestic legal framework that would help us use the Kyoto protocol-stipulated benefits in terms of the sales and purchases of quotas." The agreement allows countries with emissions below stipulated norms to sell their emission quotas to countries with emissions exceeding the norms. "The enormous work on domestic legislation" has not been accomplished yet, he said.
Khristenko said Russia and Japan would soon have to discuss issues related to the protocol's second phase that begins in 2012.
The Kyoto protocol to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change was signed at a summit in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997 under the UN aegis but came into force February 16, 2005. The ratification of the document by Russia, which accounts for 17.4% of global greenhouse gas emissions, was crucial for the enforcement of the agreement. Russia ratified the document in November 2005 after it had been ratified by 124 countries with an aggregate share of emissions of 44.2%. The United States did not ratify the document.
