For some time, the official attitude in Russia to the campaign against global warming was exemplified by Vladimir Pavlenko in a column for Regnum.ru, who exulted in the expected failure of the Glasgow "tomfoolery." Pavlenko was pleased that "The propaganda 'mountain turned into a molehill', and for the countries and peoples that are the targets of this 'green' special operation, this is the best news, meaning that the plans of the globalists are increasingly at odds with reality, and they themselves have begun to lose the initiative in promoting the so-called great reboot."[1]
The Russian leadership is moving in another direction. It is trying to protect Russia's interests by invoking the country's green assets namely forestry and nuclear energy and getting onboard the agenda to cut emissions. Vladimir Putin did not attend Glasgow but he told the gathering "By aiming to build a carbon-neutral economy by no later than 2060, Russia is relying, among other things, on the unique resource of forest ecosystems available to us, and their significant capacity to absorb carbon dioxide and produce oxygen. After all, our country accounts for around 20 per cent of the world’s forestland.
We take the strongest and most vigorous measures to conserve it. We improve forest management, and fight illegal logging and forest fires. We are expanding reforestation areas. We have been consistently increasing funding for these purposes.[2]
The Russian Federation's Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov was happy to report progress "We see that under Article 6 [of the Paris Agreement], which presupposes the rules for the implementation of climate projects and carbon credits, there are many questions, but there is movement. We will look for solutions...Nothing has been decided until everything has been decided. I look with optimism [at the results of the negotiations], and in the course of work, optimism has increased."
According to Reshetnikov, progress has been achieved in recognizing the absorbing capacity of Russian forests and the principle of technological neutrality. "We consider it fundamentally [important] to recognize atomic energy as low-carbon, and this approach is now being increasingly recognized," Reshetnikov noted with satisfaction. [3]
Putin and Reshetnikov see eye to eye on ecology (Source: Rbc.ru)
Kommersant columnist Mikhail Gurevich observed a paradox: In the rest of the world public pressure on global warming is goading governments into action and public sentiment in support of firm measures is trending upward. In Russia the trend is the reverse and there is less public support for vigorous measures than previously existed. On this issue the Russian leadership is actually ahead of Russian public opinion. To bring Russian public opinion up to speed on the issue, Gurevich recommends in a column titled " To Deny and to Oppose the Global Trend By Yourself Will Prove More Expensive" presenting the issue not only in a manner designed to appeal to the Russia's citizens' minds but also to their wallets.
Gurevich's column follows below:[4]
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"In the run-up to the Glasgow summit, "GlobeScan" sociologists published the results of a study commissioned by the BBC on the attitude of people around the world to the fight against the climate threat. More than 30,000 respondents from 31 countries shared their opinions on how their governments should act and who bears the main responsibility for the unfolding events.
"The previous survey was conducted shortly before the Paris summit, so it is especially interesting to check out how the sentiments have changed over the past five years.
"The average results are quite encouraging. Since 1998, the public attention to the issue is at a peak level and the percentage of those who approve decisive actions by the countries' leaders has grown from 43 to 58%. The only state, in which a decline of support [for decisive measures] was recorded is Russia. If back in 2015 the percentage of those supporting active efforts stood at 49%, the current measurement shows that only 38% of such respondents remained.
"It is no wonder the topic deliberated in Scotland provokes a yawn amongst many Russians in the best case, and in the worst case, it produces talk on as a bizarre speculation about how great it would be if Russian frosts became a bit less intense.
"Meanwhile, if scientists' predictions [on climate change] come true, we are the ones to play a decisive role in a world standing on the brink of ecological disaster. On the one hand, restrictions on hydrocarbon production will deliver a blow to the domestic economy, and on the other hand, Russia may become the main destination for global migration from the planet's hot regions. However, it's not the main issue, the thing is that to deny and to oppose the global trend will prove more expensive.
"It seems that in the Kremlin, they have already grasped this.
"If a few years back, President Vladimir Putin argued about how unaesthetic it would be to live amidst a palisade of wind farms, and about their negative impact on bird safety, then in his address to the current summit he declared his readiness to switch to a carbon-neutral policy by 2060.
"Regarding such plans, we are lagging behind Europe and are in unison with China. It's a pity that our coordination with our great eastern neighbor is limited to a time frame.
"And while official Beijing is blamed for all the climate sins, it has already become one of the visible beneficiaries of the transition to green energy.
"The majority of wind turbines and solar panels are assembled in the Celestial Empire, while their cost is constantly decreasing. Thus, everyone wins [in the PRC]: residents, businesses, and the state. No wonder that in the aforementioned survey, support for the Chinese government's ambitious ecological actions rose from 18% to 46%. This is usually the case when the prospects for combating global warming are clear not only in the minds but also in the 'wallets' of ordinary citizens."
Mikhail Gurevich (Source: Jewishmagazine.ru)
