The government is asked not to greenhouse – Newspaper Kommersant No. 169 (7370) of 09/14/2022

Environmental activists, lawyers and representatives of two NGOs have filed a lawsuit in the Supreme Court of Russia (SC RF), which is challenging the presidential decree and the government’s order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The lawsuit (available to Kommersant) says that the current strategy in the Russian Federation will lead to an increase in global temperature by 4 ° C, which could cause “at least 710 thousand excess deaths” worldwide. Political scientist Mikhail Vinogradov believes that the complaint to the Supreme Court is of an “image” nature, and the measures proposed in it will most likely lead to unemployment in the country.

Eighteen ecologists and representatives of two NGOs (the Moscow Helsinki Group and Ecodefense, entered into the register of foreign agents) filed a lawsuit with the Supreme Court. The authors dispute the 2020 Presidential Decree on Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions and the corresponding government order, adopted a year later. The documents define an action strategy until 2030, according to which greenhouse gas emissions should be reduced to 70% of the 1990 level. The plaintiffs demand a more significant reduction – up to 31%. They insist that the current plan of the Russian Federation “will lead to an increase in the global average temperature by 4 ° C”, and this in turn “could lead to at least 710 thousand excess deaths” by 2050 worldwide.

Russia is the fourth country in the world in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, and the average temperature in the Russian Federation is growing twice as fast as the world average, the lawsuit says. At the same time, the fight against climate change, according to the plaintiffs, is carried out in the Russian Federation “extremely insufficiently”. According to the strategy approved by the government of the Russian Federation, by 2030 carbon dioxide emissions in the country will increase to 2212 million tons. By 2050, it is planned to reduce emissions to only 1,830 million tons. According to environmentalists, in order to “with a 66% probability” keep the increase in the global average temperature at 1.5 ° C and “meet its obligations under the Paris Agreement”, Russia must reduce emissions to 968 million tons of carbon dioxide by 2030 (that is, to 31% of the 1990 level) and up to 157 million tons (up to 5%) by 2050. Otherwise, the authors of the lawsuit believe that climate change will provoke forced migration and create a “threat” to food security.

“This is the first climate lawsuit in Russia,” lawyer Grigory Vaypan, who represents the applicants in the Supreme Court, told Kommersant. “In a good way, it should have been filed immediately after the adoption of the presidential decree of 2020 and the government strategy of 2021 – they obviously do not comply with Russia’s international obligations . But we seriously prepared, requested an expert opinion (contained in the annex to the claim.— “b”). On September 15, the Convention on Human Rights expires in relation to Russia, so if they had filed a claim later, they would have lost the opportunity to subsequently apply to the ECHR if the Russian courts refused.” Mr. Waipan also noted that the expert forecast about the estimated death of 710 thousand people by 2050 is partly confirmed by statistics: “The heat of 2010 directly led to 50 thousand premature deaths.”

The introduction of “climate” measures is often associated with projects to close production, which in industrialized countries leads to a reduction in jobs, recalls political scientist Mikhail Vinogradov. At the request of Kommersant, he got acquainted with the claim and suggested that the complaint could be an “image campaign” for the applicants. “The environmental agenda in Russia is connected to a greater extent with environmental pollution and harmful emissions, and not with climate warming,” he said. place, brings her more costs than benefits. He recalled the long-term discussion of climatologists: “Someone believes that there is no increase in temperature, but there are cyclical fluctuations, for example, within 60-year cycles, someone that it exists, but is not of an anthropogenic nature.”

In their complaint to the Supreme Court, the authors substantiate the “right to sue” “separately and in detail,” Grigory Vaypan draws attention. This right is connected with the specifics of the constitutional right “to a favorable environment”, and climate change affects the rights of every Russian. “There are all legal grounds to accept this historic lawsuit and rule on it in favor of the plaintiffs,” Mr. Vaypan believes, pointing out that the RF Armed Forces have three days to accept or reject a lawsuit.

Maria Starikova