how Russia wants to limit its greenhouse gas emissions targets

During the discussions in Baku, Russia wants to highlight better CO2 storage than planned to reduce its ambitions and continue to exploit its fossil fuels.

Holding COP29 in an oil and gas power, in this case Azerbaijan, at least has the merit of showing the dissensions that persist over the consumption of fossil fuels. On Tuesday, November 12, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev said from the podium that gas and oil were a “gift from God”. And Russia, the world's fourth largest emitter of GHGs (greenhouse gases), entangled in the war in Ukraine, does not seem ready to do without fossil fuels either.

For Russia, represented by its Prime Minister Mikhail Michoustin, global warming is an issue. But the invasion of Ukraine has changed its policy of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It was already not very proactive, the new road map presented last year by Moscow further lowered the objectives. For two years, the State has stopped all controls on businesses. Officially so as not to penalize them, even though they are subject to sanctions. Environmental associations like Greenpeace or the WWF have been declared undesirable.

And climate issues are also an area of ​​confrontation with the West, explains Russian journalist Angelina Davydova, an environmental specialist: “Russia is trying to expand its cooperation with the countries of the Global South by saying that we need our own climate program to open up. This program does not coincide with the Western agenda.”

In Baku, the Russian delegation will even try to artificially lower its carbon emissions, by presenting a report which explains that its forests actually absorb more CO₂ than we thought. Russia thus hopes to avoid certain costly ecological investments.