Russia’s Climate Policy: International Bargaining and Domestic Modernisation

Abstract

This article accounts for the gap between Russia’s weak initial implementation of the Kyoto Protocol and its more active engagement in climate policy during the Medvedev presidency. We examine the intersection of climate policy and broader efforts to modernise Russia’s economy, drawing attention to synergies between domestic and international politics. We argue that international factors alone do not explain the change in climate policy as they have remained relatively constant. Instead, greater attention toward climate policy results from efforts to introduce new technologies and increase energy efficiency, spurred by the recent financial crisis and a shift in domestic policy priorities associated with the Medvedev presidency.

The authors would like to thank Steinar Andresen, Kathryn Harrison, James Richter and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments. Any errors are the responsibility of the authors. The research for this article took the form of detailed comparative analysis of Russian government statements and policy documents on climate change and energy efficiency from 2000 through to 2010, Russian and international media analysis of government positions, official statements of Russian delegations to UN conferences on climate change, and (for the Kyoto ratification period) author interviews with responsible officials in the Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, Rosgidromet Agency, Ecological Committee of the Russian State Duma, and a number of Russian and international environmental NGOs and think tanks in June–August 2005.

Notes

The authors would like to thank Steinar Andresen, Kathryn Harrison, James Richter and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments. Any errors are the responsibility of the authors. The research for this article took the form of detailed comparative analysis of Russian government statements and policy documents on climate change and energy efficiency from 2000 through to 2010, Russian and international media analysis of government positions, official statements of Russian delegations to UN conferences on climate change, and (for the Kyoto ratification period) author interviews with responsible officials in the Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, Rosgidromet Agency, Ecological Committee of the Russian State Duma, and a number of Russian and international environmental NGOs and think tanks in June–August 2005.

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¹²MED’s responsibilities include reviewing expert council reports, managing an online registry of JI projects, and verifying the implementation of projects as a ‘coordinating centre’.

¹³For a list of projects, see the Sberbank website, available at: http://www.sbrf.ru/moscow/ru/concurs/2010/index.php?id114=11002977, accessed 15 May 2012; ‘Russia Approves New Projects for Kyoto Credits’, Reuters, 27 July 2010.

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¹⁶United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Joint Implementation Supervisory Committee (2010a); United Nations Environment Programme Risoe, ‘CDM/JI Pipeline Analysis and Database’, available at: http://cdmpipeline.org/, accessed 16 May 2012.

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¹⁹Charap and Safonov (2010, p. 126) also recognise the link between climate policy and energy efficiency, although they note Medvedev’s predilection for ‘making grand, forward-looking speeches, most of which seem fanciful and generally produce little substantive change’.

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³⁰Website of the President of Russia, ‘Climate Doctrine of the Russian Federation’, 17 December 2009, available at: http://archive.kremlin.ru/eng/text/docs/2009/12/223509.shtml, accessed 16 May 2012.

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³²International Monetary Fund (2010); World Bank, World Development Indicators, available at: http://data.worldbank.org/data-catalog/world-development-indicators/, accessed 2 December 2011.

³³The other countries in this category are China, India, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, South Africa, South Korea, Indonesia, Iran, Poland, Mexico, Canada and the Netherlands.

³⁴‘Russia Approves Energy Strategy Until 2030’, China View, 26 November 2009.

³⁵Greenpeace (2009); ‘Rossiya dolzhna igrat’ rol’ lidera v klimaticheskikh peregovorakh—ekologi’, RIA Novosti, 6 November 2009.

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³⁸‘Russians on Modernisation’, Tsirkon, 27 July 2010, available at: http://www.zircon.ru/upload/File/russian/publication/6/100726.pdf, accessed 16 December 2001. ‘Elites’ (peredovaya gruppa naseleniya) were those who self-identified as middle–upper class, high income, highly educated, urban and young (age 25–44).

³⁹‘Ekspert: Vnimanie k problemam klimata dokazhet status RF kak mirovoi derzhavy’, Vzglyad, 17 December 2009.

⁴⁰Website of the President of Russia, ‘Transcript of Meeting on Energy Development’, 14 December 2009, available at: http://eng.kremlin.ru/speeches/2009/12/14/1810_type82913type82917_223360.shtml, accessed 10 April 2011.

⁴¹‘Rossiya budet uchastvovat’ v novom soglashenii po sokrashcheniyu emissii parnikovykh gazov’, Rossiiskaya Gazeta, 18 December 2009.

⁴²Website of the President of Russia, ‘Speech at Climate Change Conference Plenary Session’, 18 December 2009, available at: http://eng.kremlin.ru/speeches/2009/12/18/1840_type82912type82914_223431.shtml, accessed 18 January 2010; ‘Rossiya budet uchastvovat’ v novom soglashenii po sokrashcheniyu emissii parnikovykh gazov’, Rossiiskaya Gazeta, 18 December 2009.

⁴³Website of the President of Russia, ‘Speech at Climate Change Conference Plenary Session’, 18 December 2009, available at: http://eng.kremlin.ru/speeches/2009/12/18/1840_type82912type82914_223431.shtml, accessed 18 January 2010.