http://www.nature.com/news/2009/090526/full/news.2009.506.html Published online 26 May 2009 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2009.506
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Russia makes major shift in climate policy
Putin emphasizes the need for action on global warming.
Quirin Schiermeier
Russia's government has quietly made a drastic change to its policy on climate change, accepting that anthropogenic global warming poses severe risks and requires immediate action to limit carbon emissions.
Policy analysts believe that the new climate 'doctrine', adopted in late April, marks a historic turning point. Principally a position statement, the doctrine also outlines a checklist of key climate actions, and could provide a useful starting point for negotiations at December's international climate talks in Copenhagen.
"Russia's diplomatic approach to Copenhagen was until now just one big silence," says Kristin Jørgensen, who heads the Russian policy group of Bellona, an environmental watchdog based in Oslo that has a network of activists in Russia. "This is a totally surprising move. There were no hearings, no stakeholder discussion, no public debate — just nothing."
Russia's 1990 carbon-dioxide emissions were sufficient that the country's 2004 ratification of the Kyoto Protocol pushed the treaty past a key milestone that made it legally binding. But there was little at stake for Russia, because by then the collapse of the Soviet economy meant that its commitment to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions relative to 1990 levels had already been fulfilled. And despite Russia's role in Kyoto, the government, backed by influential scientists and economic advisers, has previously displayed indifference or outright scepticism about the scientific basis and projected effects of climate change.
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