Russia

The ratification of the Kyoto Protocol by Russia in 2004 was crucial for the entry into force of the international treaty. The main legislation on climate and emissions mitigation rests mainly on various laws on establishing the domestic compliance instruments as required by the Protocol as well as the recent Climate Doctrine. An important component of the Protocol’s framework, the Joint Implementa­tion mechanism, was adopted in Russian legislation in 2009. The original 2007 Joint Implementation legislation was considered too complicated so the responsibilities were redistributed by involving Sberbank, a state-owned bank, which fulfils the functions of the “carbon units’ operator”, and the approval system was re-established.

The Climate Doctrine, approved in 2009, marks a crucial step in Russia’s recognition of the potential benefits of mitigation measures and its will to engage with the international community. Although it is not legally binding, it is a strong statement of intent. It sets strategic guidelines and targets as well as serving as a foundation for developing and implementing future climate policy, covering issues related to climate change and its consequences. The doctrine will serve as a blueprint to harmonise domestic climate-related legislation with international standards, improve climate monitoring, stimulate the adoption of stronger environmental standards, the adoption of energy-efficiency and energy-saving measures, as well as greater use of alternative (including renewable) energy sources.

Although the doctrine recognises the potential of Russia’s vast forests as a carbon sink and recommends their use, it does not set up any major forestry action. However, the commitment under the Copenhagen Accord includes measures to provide the “appropriate accounting of the potential of Russia’s forestry in frame of contribution in meeting the obligations of the anthropogenic emissions reduction”.

In 2013 the President issued a decree setting out the national domestic target for reducing emissions by 2020 to 25% below 1990 levels and in March 2014 the Ministry of Economic Development rolled out a draft action plan to deliver the 2020 goal. In November 2014, the government also presented a general concept for measuring, reporting and verification (MRV) system for businesses as one of the measures to help attain the 2020 goal. A first set of scenarios on Russia’s emissions trajectory until 2020 and beyond (2030) has been elaborated within the Ministerial document Projection of long-term social and economic development until 2030 (March 2013), with projected GHG emissions peaking beyond 2020 and then declining again to 70% of 1990 levels by 2030.

Energy supply

Russia’s policy on sustainable energy supply and renewable energies is based on the State Policy of Energy Efficiency Increase through Use of Renewables for the Period up to 2020 adopted in 2009. The State Policy established targets for the share of electricity generation from renewable energy sources up to 2020, excluding large hydro (over 25MW). The target is 1.5% in 2010, 2.5% in 2015 and 4.5% in 2020 and a series of measures are to be implemented and monitored to achieve those. In early 2014 a new version of the State Programme on Energy Efficiency and Energy Development was adopted. It keeps the target of a 40% decrease in the energy intensity of the economy between 2007 and 2020. However it cut the share of electricity generation from renewable energy sources up to 2020 from 4.5% to 2.5% by 2020 excluding large hydro (over 25MW).

Russia has the world’s largest emissions from gas flaring. The World Bank estimates the reduction potential from flaring to be 70 Mt CO₂ at 2007 gas prices. In 2009, a government decree was adopted that seeks to reduce emissions from gas flaring. A 5% limit for gas flaring has been set for 2012 and subsequent years, with fines being imposed if this threshold is exceeded or there is no measurement equipment.

Energy demand

Russia is one of the main global suppliers of gas and oil. In order to improve its energy conservation and efficiency, it has passed several laws and rules, including the federal Thermal Performance of Buildings code (2003) and legislation “On Saving Energy and Increasing Energy Efficiency” (2009), which establishes basic prin­ciples to improve energy efficiency and to encourage energy saving, and provides for various amendments to existing legislation. Various subsequent sub-laws define tasks and respon­sibilities. In addition, there are various federal or regional programmes on heating or building efficiency such as the Heat Efficiency Leveraging Programme (HELP, initiated 1998) under the auspices of USAID, the Russian Investment Initiative and the US–Russian Commission on Scientific and Technological Co-operation.

Russia also has several framework policies or energy strategies where the goals, objectives and main directions of long-term energy policy are set out, with a strong emphasis on energy efficiency. These include the 2001 Federal Targeted Programme for an Energy Efficient Economy for 2002–2005 (updated in 2010 by the State Target Programme on Energy Efficiency) the 2003 Energy Strategy to 2020, and the 2009 Energy Strategy to 2030 where, by the end of the third stage, Russia is expected to have switched to highly efficient use of traditional energy and stand ready for the transition to alternative energy. The Energy Strategy of Russia to 2035 is currently under discussion. It identifies energy efficiency as one of the four main strategic goals and expands the concept of energy efficiency beyond energy saving. It proposes lowering the amount of electricity per unit of GDP by 40% and energy intensity by 50% by 2035 (as compared to 2010 levels). The Strategy is expected to be adopted in early 2015.

Adaptation

Despite not having a specific National Climate Change Adaptation Plan, Russia has adopted some climate change adaptation measures aimed at reducing natural disaster damage and other negative climate events, based primarily on provisions of the Climate Doctrine (2009). The 2014 Progress Report on the Execution of the Climate Doctrine Implementation Plan states that measures and solutions were developed in 2013 to address issues such as: development and implementation of measures aiming to prevent growth in the frequency of forest and peat fires; mitigation of production loss risks in agriculture; limiting negative impacts caused by more frequent floods due to higher rainfall and rising sea levels; and mitigation of mountain glaciation degradation, dangerous mudflow and avalanches. The Ministry of Natural resources is in the final phase of developing the Strategy Convention on Biodiversity Conservation, which includes tasks on adaptation of biodiversity to climate change and on forestry adaptation to climate change. The project is financed by the GEF and its implementation is co-ordinated by the WWF Russia.