Korppoo, Anna; Upston-Hooper, Karl; Yliheljo, Emilie --- "Climate change mitigation in Russia: foreign policy, environmental action or simple economics?" [2015] ELECD 211; in Van Calster, Geert; Vandenberghe, Wim; Reins, Leonie (eds), "Research Handbook on Climate Change Mitigation Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2015) 617

Book Title: Research Handbook on Climate Change Mitigation Law

Editor(s): Van Calster, Geert; Vandenberghe, Wim; Reins, Leonie

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781849803809

Section: Chapter 30

Section Title: Climate change mitigation in Russia: foreign policy, environmental action or simple economics?

Author(s): Korppoo, Anna; Upston-Hooper, Karl; Yliheljo, Emilie

Number of pages: 17

Abstract/Description:

Russia is a key actor in terms of GHG emissions and energy exports as well as global climate politics. WTO membership and opportunities provided by the Kyoto mechanisms supported Russia’s ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, but were not sufficient to incentivize participation in the second commitment period. Given this, and the marginality of the precautionary principle in Russian climate policy, domestic mitigation actions are driven by economic and energy security interests unrelated to climate mitigation. The main policy-measures, energy efficiency, associated petroleum gas flaring and renewable energy, have suffered from the low administrative capacity available for policy-implementation. Joint Implementation was also slow to start and plagued by political and economic struggles between domestic actors. Nevertheless, the implementation of the current domestic target to limit GHG emissions to 75 per cent of 1990 level by 2020, which is under discussion, envisages market-based policy initiatives.