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transportation asset has a permitted amount of methane that it is allowed to emit in the normal course of its business. Emitting more methane than permitted leads to a fine of RUB4,069 per tonne ($37 per 1,000 cubic metres). All methane emissions (including within permitted limits) are subject to a payment of some RUB117/tonne ($1.06/kcm) to the government budget.
In its Ecological Report for 2019, the company disclosed releasing 1,401kt of methane and other hydrocarbon- pollutants into the air (excluding Gazprom Neft). The current episode translates into a release of 1.8kt of methane, which is 0.1% of the 2019 total.
“Given the company’s statement that this methane release happened in the normal course of its business, which is somewhat confirmed by the numbers stated above, we do not expect any substantial financial or operational consequences.
However, we think that the situation might be quite negative for sentiment on Gazprom’s shares,” VTBC said.
The leak comes on the back of a string of environmental disasters in the last two years.
A power unit belonging to Norilsk Nickel spilled over 20,000 tonnes of oil into Arctic rivers in the Pyasino region in June 2020; this was declared a federal emergency by the Kremlin and cost Norilsk $2bn in fines. Also in June 2020, a once-in- a-1,000-year snow melt flooded the TGK1 power station near Murmansk, putting two of its hydropower units out of action after snow suddenly melted. A few months later an unusual algae bloom off the coast of Kamchatka killed all sea life along several kilometres of coastline in October 2020. And most recently Russian oil major Lukoil spilled 100 tonnes of oil in the Komi Peninsula, although very little of that got into the local rivers that run into the Barents Sea.
IEA calls for $1 trillion of annual investment into clean energy in developing economies
Richard Lockhart in Edinburgh
What? Emerging economies need $1 trillion per year of investment into clean energy. Why? Without this, the developed world will account for the bulk of emissions by 2030. What next? New investment vehicles are needed to attract private investment and loans to the developing world.
The cost of reaching net zero will require significantly more expenditures by emerging and developing economies (EMDEs), the International Energy Agency (IEA) has warned, potentially reducing the whole world’s chances of decarbonising the global economy.
Without a seven-fold increase in green investment in EMDEs, up from $150bn per year to $1 trillion per year by 2030, developing economies could be emitting the majority of the world’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in future, a report from the IEA, called Financing Clean Energy Transitions in EMDEs, found.
The report forecasts that emissions from EMDEs are projected to grow by 5bn tonnes per year (tpy) by 2040, compared with a projected 2bn tonne fall in advanced economies and
a levelling off in China.
The report warned that urgent action was needed to kick-start investment in EMDEs.
"Clean energy investment in emerging and developing
economies declined by 8% to less than $150bn in 2020, with only a slight rebound expected in 2021," the IEA said.
“The race to net zero is one that nobody wins unless everyone finishes,” said IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol, who is calling on governments to create a “strategic imperative” for international financial institutions (IFIs), including the IMF and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), to play a key role in reducing investment risk and unlocking finance.
Emerging and developing economies currently account for two-thirds of the world’s population, but only one-fifth of global investment in clean energy, and one-tenth of global financial wealth, the IEA said.
Annual investments across all parts of the energy sector in emerging and developing markets have fallen by around 20% since 2016, and they face debt and equity costs that are up to seven times higher than those in the United States or Europe.
The report covers developing economies in Africa, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Asia, although it excludes China.
Sources of finance
The report stressed that avoiding a tonne of CO2 emissions in emerging and developing economies costs about half as much on average as in advanced economies.
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