05 September 2003 16:51
All set for Russia to ratify Kyoto pact - minister
Russia has finalised the documentation needed to ratify the Kyoto protocol, a move that would bring the landmark environmental treaty into force and end years of speculation, a Russian deputy minister said on Friday.
The pact aims to reduce climate change by cutting emissions of greenhouse gases, blamed for global warming. Since the United States withdrew from the treaty in 2001, the world has waited for Russia's ratification to bring it into force.
Russia's State Duma, or lower house of parliament, reconvenes after its summer break on Monday, and Irina Osokina, a deputy minister in the Natural Resources Ministry, said she saw no further obstacles to ratification. "All the documents are ready for ratification, they are currently with the government," Osokina told reporters. "The Duma has to conduct three readings, and I cannot say how this will go as I am not a member of parliament, but I do not think that the Duma will reject it."
The protocol, agreed at a summit in Kyoto, Japan in 1997, employs a complex weighting system for emission quotas and would only come into force when countries responsible for 55 percent of global emissions ratified it. Without the United States, by far the world's largest polluter, it needs to be endorsed by Russia, which accounts for 17 percent of emissions.
Russia hosts an international climate change conference at the end of the month, and many observers think it will ratify the protocol before the summit, although the Duma's ecological committee said earlier this week it had no timetable for a vote.
Osokina said most Russian parliamentarians support the treaty, and the economy ministry has said it is not opposed to ratification. But many government figures are worried about its impact on Russian oil and metal producers. "In the Duma, this is seen as extremely important and a priority," said Osokina.
Most observers say final approval will come only if President Vladimir Putin, whose loyalists dominate the Duma, allows it. In June, he said it was a step in the right direction but would not solve the problem of climate change.
Russian emission levels were assessed before the collapse of the Soviet Union decimated the country's industrial base, so it has substantial spare capacity, which it could trade with over-polluting nations.
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