Climate change: a priority during Russia’s G8 presidency

MOSCOW, February 20. During Russia’s Group of Eight presidency, climate change and implementation of the Kyoto Protocol will be one of the priorities, said Johanna Keech, a representative of the British Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Currently Russia presides in the G8. More effective use of natural resources, better education in this area, improved cooperation between ministries and departments, global climate change, and implementation of the Kyoto Protocol will be among the matters discussed, she said, speaking at the Moscow seminar on Climate Change, Kyoto Protocol and World Economic Development.

She said that the G8 is responsible for climate change, because its countries account for 65% of the world’s GDP and 47% of hothouse gas emissions.

She said these countries are taking practical steps, including involvement of developing nations in the effort. Developing countries encounter negative processes more often than the developed ones. It is necessary to draw them into the effort, although they are more interested in economic issues than in environmental ones, Keech said.
She said G8 plus 5 meetings had already been held, which helped to involve India, China, Iran, Nigeria and Australia in the process.

This year, as part of a discussion of the problem, a meeting of environment and energy ministers of the G8 is planned in Mexico to take up technological development, capacity distribution, and market mechanisms for diverting investments into new and less energy-consuming sectors.