Putin says climate deal must take Russian forests into account 2

MOSCOW—A global warming pact to be agreed next month in Copenhagen must take into account the carbon dioxide absorption potential of Russia’s sprawling forests, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Monday.

“Are we ready to support Denmark’s efforts in the post-Kyoto period? We are ready to do this,” Putin said at a press conference with visiting Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen.

“But there are two conditions: all countries must sign it. And Russia will insist that capacity of its forests for absorbing carbon dioxide must be taken into account.”

Putin’s conditions highlighted another impediment on the already-difficult path to reaching an agreement at the U.N. Climate Change Conference, which is due to take place in Copenhagen on Dec. 7-18.

The demand spells out a position previously adopted by Russia under the Kyoto Protocol, whose current pledges expire at the end of 2012.

Russia and other countries demanded big concessions on forestry in 2001 when Kyoto’s complex rulebook was being negotiated.

They argued that forests are a bulwark against global warming as trees absorb carbon dioxide—the principal greenhouse gas—through the natural process of photosynthesis.

The issue of how much forested land should be offset against emissions targets by rich countries turned out to be a major stumbling block for completing Kyoto.

The treaty eventually took effect in February 2005 after a long delay by Russia in ratifying it.

Many green activists say the forestry rules are a potential loophole, enabling polluting countries to statistically write off their emissions yet not reduce them in real terms.

The Copenhagen meeting is set to bring together 192 countries in an effort to negotiate a new global warming agreement for the period after 2012.

But diplomats say it is unlikely that a legally binding treaty can be agreed given divisions among the participants, notably between rich and developing countries over who should bear the main burden for emission cuts.

Rasmussen said he expected a political accord, rather than a legally binding treaty, to be adopted at the conference.

“I expect a politically binding agreement that will take effect right after the signature. This agreement will be the basis for a legally binding agreement,” Rasmussen told reporters.

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