Economic Realities May Force Russia to Rethink Climate Change Priorities

© REUTERS / Stephane Mahe A woman walks past a map showing the elevation of the sea in the last 22 years during the World Climate Change Conference 2015 (COP21) at Le Bourget, near Paris, France, December 11, 2015
A woman walks past a map showing the elevation of the sea in the last 22 years during the World Climate Change Conference 2015 (COP21) at Le Bourget, near Paris, France, December 11, 2015 - Sputnik International
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A global shift toward low-carbon economies may press Russia to rethink its ambivalence toward the 2015 Paris accord on global warming and an upcoming climate summit in Morocco, the US Special Envoy on Climate Change Jonathan Pershing told guests at the Atlantic Council think tank.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Pershing spoke amid preparations for a summit on climate change this November in the Moroccan city of Marrakech. Russia was invited, but did not participate in a meeting last week to prepare for the event, Pershing explained.

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"If Russia’s market to Europe, which is where a lot of its [natural] gas goes, dries up, fundamental change in the dynamics of Russian supply and Russian development might move them a different direction," Pershing said on Tuesday.

If the rest of the world restructures its economies with renewable energy sources, the future Russian leadership, whether it’s President Vladimir Putin or someone else is going to have to manage this, Pershing added.

At the Paris conference, Russia declined to join other nations in agreeing to reduce carbon emissions and instead offered a modest pledge to slow growth of the pollutant that is blamed for global warming.

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