Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday signed a decree that would allow Russia to increase its greenhouse gas emissions by a fifth by 2035 compared with 2021 levels.
Russia, the world’s fourth-largest emitter of planet-warming carbon dioxide gas, aims to achieve net zero emissions by 2060.
But activists say its current climate goals are woefully insufficient to combat global warming.
In the decree, Putin ordered his government to implement “by 2035 a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions to 65-67 percent relative to the 1990 level”, taking into account the impact of Russia’s vast forests that soak up carbon.
This would set Russia’s maximum allowed emissions at around two billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2035 — lower than the record of 3.1 billion tonnes in 1990 but around 22 percent higher than the 2021 figure of 1.7 billion, according to data provided by Russia to the United Nations.