It is not only the United States that questions pollution standards. Indeed, Russia has just given itself the right to pollute more during the next decade. On Wednesday, Vladimir Putin signed a decree which authorizes a 20 % increase in greenhouse gas emissions by 2035 compared to 2021, a decision which arouses the concern of the environmental defenders.
The text fixes for objective “a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 65 to 67 % compared to 1990”, taking into account the capacity of the vast Russian forests to absorb carbon. This calculation would allow the emissions to cap at around 2 billion tonnes of CO2 by 2035, against 1.7 billion in 2021 according to official data transmitted to the UN.
Russia, the Fourth World CO2 transmitter
If this ceiling remains below the historic record of 3.1 billion tonnes recorded in 1990, it nevertheless represents a significant increase compared to current levels. Experts consider it wrong the choice of 1990 as a reference: Russian emissions had then dropped more than half during the following decade, a direct consequence of the industrial collapse which followed the fall of the USSR.
Our file on Russia
Fourth global CO2 transmitter, Russia aims for carbon neutrality by 2060. But for many activists, these objectives are largely insufficient to respect the Paris agreement, which plans to limit warming to 1.5 ° C above pre-industrial levels. Opposed to the gradual abandonment of fossil fuels during previous climatic summits, Russia remains strongly dependent on its oil and gas exports. A dependence all the more worrying as the country warms 2.5 times faster than the world average, according to the state meteorological service.