A Climate Vision for Russia
In order to truly tackle the problem of climate change, gain influence in building the international climate regime, and reap economic benefits domestically, the Russian climate vision must be more comprehensive. Moscow should move from rhetoric to action in terms of climate commitments. Even though Russia has stated that it will stay outside Kyoto’s second commitment period, Russia has the opportunity to demonstrate its role as a serious climate protection partner by legally adopting a domestic emission limitation target—as proposed at the Copenhagen conference in 2009. This would signal to the world community that Moscow has moved on from its legacy of post-Soviet emission decline and would add credibility to Russia’s focus on negotiating a new global climate agreement instead of joining Kyoto’s second phase.