Reluctant Russian Cabinet approves Kyoto protocol

The Russian Cabinet approved the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol on combating global warming today, clearing the way for parliament to vote on the pact, which needs to be ratified by Russia to take effect.

The Cabinet has to submit a draft bill on ratification of the protocol to the State Duma, the lower parliament house. The Duma is dominated by the Kremlin-directed United Russia party and approves nearly all bills backed by President Vladimir Putin.

The Cabinet ruled that all concerned government ministries and agencies should draft proposals on specific action that needs to be taken to fulfil Russia’s obligations under the pact.

A government official said the ratification bill would be submitted to parliament shortly so that the Duma could ratify it before the year’s end.

Putin in May pledged to speed up approval of the protocol in return for EU support of Russia’s bid to join the World Trade Organisation.

“It’s a political decision. It’s a forced decision” to ratify Kyoto, Putin’s economic adviser Andrei Illarionov, who led Russian opponents of Kyoto, told the Cabinet. “It’s not the decision we are making with pleasure.”

The EU has long urged Russia to ratify the pact, which must be joined by no fewer than 55 countries that accounted for at least 55% of global emissions in 1990.

That minimum now can be reached only with Russia because the United States, China and some other big industrial nations have rejected the treaty.

The Kyoto protocol seeks to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, which are widely seen as a key factor behind global warming.

Illarionov and other Russian foes of the Kyoto protocol have argued that joining the pact would stymie Russia’s economic growth and made Putin’s goal of doubling gross domestic product in a decade unattainable.

Some observers have speculated that Russia was jockeying for more favourable terms when rules are worked out for a mechanism under which countries that come in with emissions levels below the targets can sell credits to nations that still need to reduce emissions.