UN Climate Summit: new approach and new challenges

For a week now, the United Arab Emirates has been in the center of world attention: starting from November 30, the International Climate Conference COP-28 is taking place, in which a representative Russian delegation is taking part. And on December 6, Dubai welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin, who visited the Emirates for the first time since 2019. Both events clearly demonstrate that there is no question of any isolation. On the contrary, the country actively participates in the international agenda and comes up with important initiatives.

The Russian President held talks with UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. According to Presidential Assistant for International Affairs Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s visit is a “powerful shot” and a “signal to the international community.” During the meeting, the leaders of the two countries discussed issues of bilateral cooperation and international politics. And footage of the bright meeting of the Russian president spread throughout the world’s media.

Meanwhile, the Climate Summit for Russia also turned out to be eventful. The event was attended by top officials of the Russian government, in particular, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov. He announced Russia’s readiness to participate in the financing of international climate projects, but noted that such projects must be transparent. “It is important for us to have access to the management of the resources that are accumulated in the climate fund if Russia finances it. Lately we have seen that they are trying to exclude Russia from participating in international formats of such discussions. Therefore, we want to figure it out and understand to what extent Russia will be represented in the management of the fund’s resources,” Siluanov emphasized. According to the minister, the most important thing is “that the climate issues of some countries cannot be resolved at the expense of others.”

The head of the RSPP Committee on Climate Policy and Carbon Regulation, Andrei Melnichenko, who takes an active part in the work of the Conference, also believes that the solution to climate problems should be comprehensive, meeting the interests of Russia, and at the same time be based on “accurate scientific knowledge, science-based selection of optimal options.” . Deputy Minister of Economic Development of Russia Vladimir Ilyichev, who also attended the Summit, agrees with this. He stated that the Russian Federation stands “for technology neutrality – an approach that is independent of technology and involves the use of various decarbonization solutions.”

At the same time, Russia actually has such projects. And one of them was presented at the conference – this is the so-called NBS project – “Pleistocene Park”. According to the co-organizer of the thematic pavilion at the summit exposition, Andrei Melnichenko, “The park is testing the hypothesis that reducing permafrost thawing due to trampling of snow by animals and the accumulation of carbon in the soil during the formation of pastures will reduce emissions to 8-10 tons of CO2 equivalent per hectare per year. This is quite comparable to the most effective forest conservation NBS currently in existence.”

Attention to natural climate projects at the Conference is becoming a new trend on the climate agenda, which was met with due attention by the leaders of international organizations and countries interested in achieving climate goals without damaging their economies. The pavilion, in particular, was visited by the Ministers of Environment of the UAE, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Russian scientists and politicians, including two-time Olympic champion, Chairman of the Central Council of the All-Russian Society for Nature Conservation Vyacheslav Fetisov.