Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on 2 November that Moscow is willing to join a new agreement on climate change. But a global warming pact to be agreed next month in Copenhagen must take into account the carbon dioxide absorption potential of Russia’s sprawling forests, Putin said, after talks with his visiting Danish counterpart Lars Rasmussen. “Everyone without exception must sign this document, otherwise it would be deprived of all sense. Russia will also be insisting that it fully accounts for the capacity of Russian forests to absorb hydrocarbon gas, something that was not done in full volume in the Kyoto protocol,” he said.
The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen next month is expected to negotiate over a replacement for the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, parts of which will expire in 2012
Rasmussen said he expected a political accord, rather than a legally binding treaty, to be adopted at the conference.
“I expect a politically binding agreement that will take effect right after the signature. This agreement will be the basis for a legally binding agreement,” Rasmussen told reporters.
Acknowledging that Denmark’s consent to the construction of the Nord Stream gas pipeline has helped enhance ties with Russia, Putin also said at the press conference that the volume of natural gas deliveries to Denmark via Nord Stream could later be tripled to three billion cubic meters a year. “The commissioning of Nord Stream will secure long-term gas supplies to Denmark. This will be at least one billion cubic meters of gas per year ... Subsequently this quantity could be tripled for Denmark,” Putin said.