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The policy briefs reprinted in these pages are drawn from past issues of Okno Group's E&H Online Environment Report. The briefs have been selected for broader interest and appear here with a delay after original publication. |
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August 1998 |
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July 1998 |
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May 1998 |
Russia weighs in for emissions trading Russian environmental officials are indicating that their government will only ratify the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas reduction if provisions are approved that will allow an international trade in emissions credits. The protocol to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, negotiated in Kyoto, Japan last December, calls on all the world's developed industrial nations (including Russia and other CEE countries) to reduce their emissions of carbon dioxide and other "greenhouse gases" that contribute to global warming to levels below those reached in 1990 by a deadline around 2010. Russia, like other transition economies, is currently well below its 1990 emissions levels, and therefore has "credits" it can sell to other countries which will find it expensive to cut their emissions by the agreed amount. Russia and other former communist countries also use energy very inefficiently, because of old and poorly-designed equipment, and thus would benefit disproportionately from investments in energy efficiency. Russia wants to make sure that it benefits economically and technologically from the Kyoto agreement, and is pressing that controversial proposals for global trading in emissions credits be approved at a special conference in Argentina this November. While some states, including the United States, Canada, and Australia, strongly support such trading (which would relieve pressure on their domestic industry), other nations, including members of the EU, oppose such a system saying that it would be hard to police and would allow some countries to avoid cuts. The Russian government has already concluded agreements with Japan for a large program of energy infrastructure investments that would provide Japanese companies with credits (see brief in E&H Online, April 1998; story in print E&H, Mar/Apr 1998, p.1); other proponents of emissions trading are also negotiating among themselves. Whether outright sales of Russian credits (as opposed to investment projects that generate credits) will be used for environmental purposes or to shrink the Russian budget deficit is unclear. Russian output of greenhouse gases is expected to rise, however, as the economy recovers unless major technology changes are made. Copyright ©1998 by Okno Group.
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April 1998 |
Japan and Russia to agree on greenhouse gas reduction measures Japanese government officials said on 17 April that they expected an agreement on greenhouse gas reductions to emerge from the summit meeting between Russian President Boris Yeltsin and Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto outside Tokyo. The Japanese government began talks with Russian counterparts in January, exploring ways the two countries could cooperate to help cut emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), a "greenhouse gas" that is the main product of fossil fuel use and the prime culprit behind global warming [see E&H Online, February 98]. The agreement between the two nations to cut emissions would be the first of its kind, the participants said. In the protocol to the UN Convention on Climate Change signed December in Kyoto, Japan, all industrialized countries are committed to reducing their emissions of greenhouse gases. Japan has pledged to cut its emissions 6% below 1990 levels (which, experts say, would require a 15% cut below current levels); Russia is required simply to keep its emissions to 1990 levels. Under the Kyoto Protocol, nations may cooperate to lower emissions below the required target in one country and transfer the "credits" created for use in another country that will not meet its target otherwise. While details of how such "joint implementation" projects will be regulated under the treaty remain to be negotiated later this year, Japan has moved quickly to explore options for generating emissions credits in other nations which it could use to avoid expensive cuts at home. Russia is a prime candidate for such credits, since the country is expected to fall well below its target level because of industrial collapse; Russian power plants and factories also generally have equipment that is very energy inefficient and heavily reliant on coal, which emits the most CO2 per unit of energy. Relatively simple equipment upgrades would yield large emissions cuts. In early March, a Japanese consortium led by Sumitomo, Mitsui and Mitsubishi announced an agreement with Unified Energy Systems (UES), the Russian holding company for regional electric companies, to retrofit 28 power plants with equipment that would convert them from coal to natural gas power. In return, Japan would receive some of the emissions credits that would be created. Copyright ©1998 by Okno Group. Controversy over the Caspian Sea In mid-April, the Russian government continued to object to plans for an undersea pipeline in the Caspian Sea. The Russian officials based their objections on environmental concerns, specifically that seismic activity in the Caspian would make a pipeline along the seabed unsafe. But the Russian government seems more miffed by the fact that pipeline plans favored by Turkey and other area countries bypasses Russia. Russia favors a route linking the Azerbaijani capital of Baku to Russia's port city Novorossiysk on the Black Sea; a competing plan would run a pipeline to the Turkish port of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean Sea. Substantial fees generated by the transit of oil through the pipelines are the main issue at stake. Copyright ©1998 by Okno Group. Finland and Sweden to fund St. Petersburg sewage project The Finnish and Swedish governments, along with the EBRD, agreed in early April to fund a program to reduce effluents and treat sewage coming from the Russian city of St. Petersburg that fouls the Baltic Sea. Earlier this year, an EBRD-funded project to treat the city's sewage foundered when the St. Petersburg city council hesitates to raise water rates for residents to pay for part of the program. The treatment project is reported to be worth R1 billion ($163 million). Experts estimate that some 40% of St. Petersburg's residential sewage is dumped untreated into the Gulf of Finland, delivered by the Neva River. As many as 500 factories dump industrial wastes directly into the river as well. St. Petersburg mayor Vladimir Yakovlev acknowledged at an early April meeting of Baltic Sea mayors that the city dumps 1.2 million tons of untreated effluents into the Neva each year. Researchers point to the Neva as the main source of pollution in the Baltic sea; organic pollutants have caused a surge in green algae in the Gulf of Finland, and effluent slicks can close beaches in Finland. Mayors from the region agreed to cooperate to cut pollution in their common waters. Copyright ©1998 by Okno Group. Lukoil ordered to stop drilling to save bustards In a remarkable move, Russia's State Committee on the Environment issued an order in mid-April banning a subsidiary of the Russian energy giant Lukoil from drilling for oil in the Saratov federal reserve. The drilling had been taking place in an area where rare bustards lay their eggs. The committee had ordered Lukoil in March to suspend exploration until an environmental impact study was completed. In April, the committee concluded that the project would do "irreversible harm" to the endangered bird. About one-half of the remaining 10,000 to 14,000 Russian bustards live in the Saratov region and close to 1,000 of them build nests in the area surrounding Lukoil's rig. Lukoil-Saratov gained access to the federal reserve in 1996 when it signed a contract with the Saratov regional administration. Lukoil-Saratov believes that their operations would actually help scientific study of the bird by providing needed funding. Sergei Sherstnev, deputy minister of Saratov's oil ministry said in a letter to environmental activists in February that Lukoil's exploration well in the reserve would provide the opportunity "to study the effect of oil wells on the surrounding environment." Copyright ©1998 by Okno Group.
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March 1998 |
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February 1998 |
Russia and Japan discuss greenhouse gas reductions The Russian and Japanese governments held a first round of bilateral negotiations in late January to discuss joint efforts to cut the emission of "greenhouse gases" which may trigger global climate change. The two countries explored options for "joint implementation" projects that would help Japan meet its emission reduction targets by making investments in Russia. The climate change protocol negotiated at the United Nations conference in Kyoto, Japan last December allows countries to cooperate to reduce emissions in one country and share the "credits" created by the reduction. Though the details of how joint implementation would work under the protocol are not yet clear, a number of such projects have been under study or in preliminary stages since the original Rio climate change treaty in 1992. The transition economies of eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union are prime candidates for such projects; central planning left these nations with old, inefficient technology that depended on subsidized fuels. Relatively inexpensive investments in technology for electricity producers and city heat plants can dramatically improve efficiency and cut emissions of gases like carbon dioxide which are covered by the treaty. Since the treaty's baseline for measuring reductions is 1990, at the beginning of the transition period, economic recession has left the east European nations far under their target levels with credits they may be able to sell. Joint implementation projects allow specific companies from countries such as Japan or the United States, where emissions cuts would be very expensive, to make targeted investments in eastern Europe and count the reduction against their own home emissions. The Japanese officials said that they would spend up to Y100 million ($784,000) on research for potential projects, which may include coal to natural gas conversions for electricity plants, or improvements in power transmission. A second round of talks, discussing concrete projects, is to be held in Tokyo this fall. Copyright ©1998 by Okno Group. Russian environmentalists win court victory Russian environmental org anizations scored an important, if uncertain, legal victory in mid-February as the Russian Supreme Court ruled that the government had illegally granted permits for forests to be cleared in twelve sites across the country. The court ruled that permits issued by the Federal Forestry Service in 1996 for clearing forests in national reserves, recreation areas and along bodies of water had not been subject to environmental inspections as required by a 1995 law. The Forestry Service insisted that its moves had been legal, and was waiting for the full ruling to be published before responding. Environmental groups consider the ruling a landmark decision since it represents the first instance where the courts have been used to enforce environmental protection of public lands. According to the decision, the forests should be returned to their original use, though implementation is in the hands of local authorities and thus uncertain. Most of the affected areas are in the Moscow and St. Petersburg regions. Government environmental officials also consider the case an important precedent, and expect the number of permits for forest clearing to drop in the wake of the ruling. Environmental groups note that the federal government has a strong financial incentive to sell the rights to public forests; the funds raised by the Forestry Service from timber sales nearly matches the amount it received from the federal budget. Copyright ©1998 by Okno Group.
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January 1998 |
Russia adopts energy conservation program In mid-December, the Russian cabinet approved a draft energy conservation program. The program will undertake to save 360 to 435 million tons of fuel between 1998 and 2005. Budget subsidies to regional governments for energy use will be cut. Energy efficiency will be encouraged under the program by the introduction of meters and other systems to track and regulate energy consumption. The program also should decrease atmospheric pollutants by 3.2 million tons. Copyright ©1998 by Okno Group. Fuel taxes in Moscow to fund ecology programs At the end of December, the Moscow city government adopted a law to increases taxes on automotive fuel to help fund ecology programs in the city. The tax will be levied on different types of fuel as follows: one kopeck per liter of AI-98 ethylene-free gasoline, two kopecks per liter of AI-95, three kopecks per liter of either AI-93 or AI-92, and five kopecks per liter of diesel fuel. (With the redenomination of the ruble on 1 January 1998, 1,000 old rubles equal one new ruble; a kopeck is 0.01 ruble and is now worth 0.17 US cents, the same as 10 old rubles.) Copyright ©1998 by Okno Group.
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Created 20 July 2000; last modified
Municipal authorities in Moscow approved plans in July to begin charging for toxic cleanup services provided to private entities by the civil defense and emergency department. The authorities will for the first time charge for the removal of mercury, gasoline, and other toxic or radioactive wastes left by man-made spills. The agency will also begin to charge for transit planning, inspection, and similar services.