Climate Support Expected of Moscow

France is expecting Russia’s support in preparation of the new climate agreement during the upcoming Conference of Parties to UNFCCC (COP21). Ségolène Royal, the French Minister of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy, handed the invitation to this event to President Putin, on behalf of the French President François Hollande.

France is expecting Russia’s support in preparation of the new climate agreement during the upcoming Conference of Parties to UNFCCC (COP21). Ségolène Royal, the French Minister of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy, handed the invitation to this event to President Putin, on behalf of the French President François Hollande.

We hope that the President of Russia will take part in COP21. We need the vital force of political leaders, business, NGOs and citizens to achieve success at the Paris climate conference, she said.

We are hoping to receive a signal of Russia’s national dedication to achieving success at the Paris conference, and that it, along with other countries, will take part in the energy shift and will contribute with something very important to fight climate change, emphasized Ségolène Royal.

The conference in Paris is to become the motherland of the new agreement that is due to be reached by the 196 countries of the world with the intention to reduce greenhouse gases emissions in order to contain global warming within the 2-degree limit. If that does not happen, experts predict a rapidly increasing number of extreme weather events, melting of glaciers and subsequent sea level rise.

Heads of states and delegations will give the start to COP21. During the second week of the conference, the discussions will be held on the ministerial level – and the Ministers will bear the responsibility for the final arbitrage and for “sealing the deal”.

The French Minister of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy, aside from handing the invitation, also took part in the round table dedicated to the protection of environment from industrial impacts. At the round table that took place in Moscow, she once again emphasized the importance of a strong dedication of politicians, the civil society, Russian industry and business in partnership with French companies” in order to achieve success at the Paris conference.

France is also expecting “a very strong interest of cities in making effort to reduce greenhouse gases emissions, since we have very important issues to resolve, regarding the energy efficiency of buildings and transport,” said Ségolène Royal. She also noted a special contribution of Russian science to the cause.

The role of Russia in combatting climate change should not be underestimated – Russia, along with China, the US, India and the European Union, is currently in the top-5 of world’s biggest GHG emitters.

Environmental NGOs would like to support the opinions expressed by the French Minister, and call to the Russian authorities to be directly involved in the international climate conference in Paris and support constructive work to develop and sign the new climate agreement.

Their views concerning the upcoming climate negotiations are expressed in the Position paper (http://rusecounion.ru/eng_rseu_position_2015) that was adopted at the 8th annual climate and energy conference of the Russian Social Ecological Union last month.