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on carbon taxes. The key takeaways are as follows.
Russia is to move in line with soft carbon regulations via the introduction of a monitoring system, but there are no plans to establish a carbon tax in the country.
This is because the key focus is on preventing cost inflation and stagnating demand by not transferring price growth onto consumers. If there are businesses, which are ready to move voluntarily into this, they would be granted all the mechanisms required to show the verified certificates.
The overall climate agenda system needs to adjusted, according to Reshetnikov, since although the Russian economy is considered to be carbon intensive, it is not. A lot has been done in the last 20-25 years, including modernising power capacities, introducing DPM programmes, and working on nuclear, hydro capacities and renewables. All this creates a good balance, in addition to the country’s forest absorption capacity.
The question of support for companies that could be affected by the planned EU carbon tax is also being discussed. However, it is difficult to go into the details as no terms are available so far. According to Reshetnikov, Russia has questions on how this fits into the WTO rules.
A local carbon tax could have been the most obvious way of mitigating the risks related to the EU carbon tax. However, taking into account the high carbon intensity of the Russian economy, that might have been a painful measure for some of the largest economic agents.
149 ​RUSSIA Country Report​ November 2020 www.intellinews.com