Page 14 - FSUOGM Week 13 2021

FSUOGM POLICY FSUOGM

Russia could enlist Taiga forests

in carbon credit system

RUSSIA THE Russian government plans to monetise the government in order to invest in planting new
vast Taiga forests by means of a carbon credit trees and protecting what is already there.
Companies would be system and is creating a digital platform to col- Should the data confirm that the investment
able to lease sections lect satellite and drone data about the forests' has improved CO2 absorption, it could be con-
of forest from the CO2 absorption capacity, Bloomberg reports on verted into tradeable carbon credits.
government to invest in March 23. Russia’s managed forests are estimated to
planting new trees. "Russia has 20% of global forests, so the have absorbed nearly 620mn tonnes of CO2
international community must be fair in that equivalent in 2018, according to the latest
respect," Alexey Chekunkov, Minister for the data, enough to offset around 38% of national
Development of the Russian Far East and Arc- emissions.
tic, told Bloomberg in an interview. "We have However, Bloomberg notes that "carbon off-
the potential to turn them into a massive carbon setting schemes have faced criticism from scien-
capture hub." tists who warn that, to avoid catastrophic global
As reported by bne IntelliNews, Russian state warming, greenhouse gas [GHG] emissions
energy policy is focusing more and more on need to be cut in half globally by the end of this
ESG, as Russia belatedly prepares to tackle the decade, and to zero by 2050."
EU carbon tax introduction and other "green" In addition, obtaining accurate data on car-
challenges. bon sequestration from forests is difficult, while
Recent reports suggest several initiatives are forests are also vulnerable to forest fires and out-
being developed at the same time, such as green breaks of timber disease.
certificates, a greenhouse gas (GHG) emission Bloomberg also notes that Russia has the
reduction strategy, an energy efficiency policy, as weakest climate target of any major economy
well as a law on reducing CO2 emissions. and is planning a slight increase in emissions by
Russia's largest oil producer Rosneft has also 2030.
recently detailed its 2035 Carbon Management "The lion’s share of Russia’s plan to cut emis-
goals, which also mentions the potential bene- sions should be renewable energy, new tech-
ficial effect of Russian forests acting as a carbon nology and energy efficiency," Alexey Kokorin,
sink. director of the Climate and Energy Programme
Reportedly, under the new system planned at WWF Russia told Bloomberg. "Additionally,
by the government, companies would be able and with very strict criteria, would come forestry
to lease sections of forest from the Russian development," he added. ™

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