This Earth Day, April 22, 2016, marks the beginning of the Week of Action to protect the Climate, a Climate Ambassadors campaign, created by the Russian Social Ecological Union’s Climate Secretariat, the SPARE program, and Friends of the Baltic NGO. From April 22 to May 1, in 15 regions of Russia there will be classes, open lectures and interactive lessons held for people of all ages, as well as local actions to support simple solutions to tackling climate change.
Along with over 170 other countries, Russia signed the Paris Agreement – the new international climate agreement due to replace the Kyoto protocol – at a ceremony held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. This day will be remembered for the highest number of countries that signed an international agreement on day one.
The end of the public campaign coincided with the wrap-up of a five-year long implementation of the state program "Energy Saving and Energy Efficiency for the Period until 2020". The outcomes of the program are rather modest. Starting in 2015, state finances have been cut, while the main support is going to the coal industry. The forecasted amount of energy to be saved by means of the state program was comparable to total energy generated by the country’s largest power stations! Energy efficiency could have become an alternative to fossil fuels and the dangerous nuclear power, yet so far, its potential remains untapped. 
Буклет издан в рамках информационной кампании Российского Социально-Экологического Союза. Кампания призвана помочь отдельным гражданам и целым регионам использовать возможности Госпрограммы энергосбережения и энергоэффективности до 2020 г., ускорить ее темпы – и найти дополнительные резервы энергоэффективности – в жилом секторе, в бизнесе, в государственных организациях. Общественность информирует население о выгодах энергоэффективных решений, содействует формированию просвещенного потребительского спроса на продукты и услуги с высокими параметрами энергоэффективности – приборы, оборудование, жилье, транспорт.
During the climate conference in Paris, several influential financial organizations, along with heads of states and corporate CEOs made a public statement to support putting a price tag on carbon. However, the international community has mixed feelings about carbon trade.
In 2014 and 2015, the all-Russia public organization “Social Ecological Union” (RSEU) has carried out surveys in Russian regions on the results of implementation of the RF Climate Doctrine. Letters with requests for providing information had been sent to all regions of Russia.
The new international agreement will replace in 2020 the Kyoto Protocol and outline the major directions for countries’ cooperation on adaptation and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. However, from the viewpoint of the most vulnerable countries, public organizations, and even some business people, so far the Agreement gives no guarantees of slowdown of climate changes, nor it resolves issues of assistance to countries which are suffering from climatic outcomes the most. For Russia, the new Agreement might become a catalyst for modernization of its economy if mechanisms of priority support to energy efficiency and the green energy will work.
ST PETERSBURG, Russia, Dec. 21 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – In late October, Russia opened the first stage of the country’s largest solar power plant.
On December 9, RF Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology Sergey Donskoy made a presentation at the press-conference within the frame of the UN COP-21 Climate Conference in Paris. The Minister presented Russia’s outcomes and plans on accounting and regulation of greenhouse gas emissions, development of energy efficiency and no-carbon energy generation; unfortunately, he had included in the latter major hydro power energy production and nuclear power stations.
On December 7, within the frame of the UN СОР-21 Climate Conference in Paris, a press-conference with Anatoly Chubais, Director of the Rosnano State Corporation, took place. He presented the Rosnano’s view on the role of “clean materials” in the reduction of greenhouse emissions. According to Chubais, along with energy efficiency and renewable energy, the “clean materials” based on nanotubes can contribute up to 22% in emission reduction; estimates of the Center for Energy Efficiency confirm this.