Russia’s Emissions
Since 1990, the world’s total emissions have gone up by 43 percent and OECD member countries’ emissions by 10 percent. By comparison, in 2010, Russia’s carbon emissions stood at 34.2 percent below their 1990 level5—a notable track record.6 Russian officials have presented this as strong evidence of Russia’s leading role as a contributor to climate change mitigation efforts.7 The international climate community, however, has generally remained unimpressed by Russia’s performance.
First, Russia’s reductions were not the outcome of focused policies to cut emissions. The decrease was principally the result of the economic decline that followed Russia’s transition to a market economy after the collapse of the Soviet system. By 1998, when the Russian economy hit bottom, energy use was about a third lower than it was in 1990, resulting in major decline in emissions.8 (Figure 1 shows Russia’s greenhouse gas emissions and GDP since 1990.)