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The Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation has prepared a draft national strategy for low-carbon development until 2030, the document has been sent to the departments for approval. Deputy Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation Ilya Torosov told TASS on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum.
“We have prepared a climate strategy. It is now being approved by the departments. We sent it last week. We expect it to be approved by the end of the year,” he said. The deputy minister explained that the document will contain four development scenarios – inertial, basic, intensive and aggressive. They all differ in the amount of investment and the speed of energy transition. “We will now work on what scenario will be taken as a basis,” added Torosov.
He also said that the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia plans to hold a competition to select an exchange site for the circulation of carbon units by the end of this year. “We will hold a competition to determine a trading floor. It could be both the Moscow Exchange and the site of the St. Petersburg [International Commodity Exchange], perhaps Sberbank. These are the sites that have declared themselves, have shown interest,” he told TASS … According to him, climate projects related to absorption of emissions and forestry projects can act as the basis for carbon units. The first climate projects suitable for circulation on the stock exchange should appear already in 2022, the deputy minister said.
According to Torosov, Russian forests can absorb up to 1.1 billion tons of carbon dioxide per year, according to a new calculation method that is being prepared by the Ministry of Natural Resources. “At the moment, according to the official methodology, the [absorption capacity] of Russian forests is estimated at 590 million tons of CO2 per year. Now the methodology is being adjusted. And the Ministry of Natural Resources expects that from 2023 it will be already 1.1 billion tons of CO2 per year. And we this has already been incorporated into the [climate] strategy, “he said.
The Ministry of Natural Resources confirmed this information to TASS.