IngentaConnect Russia at GHG Market

Abstract:

In the first Kyoto commitment period Russia could be the major supplier for the greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions market. Potential Russian supply depends on the ability of Russia to keep GHG emissions lower than the Kyoto target. In the literature there is no common understanding of the total trading potential of Russia at the international carbon market. In this paper we focus on CO₂ emission, which constituted nearly 80% of Russian GHG emission. We compare different projections of Russian CO₂ emission and analyze the most important factors, which predetermine the CO₂ emission growth. In a transition economy these factors are: Gross Domestic Product (GDP) dynamic, changes of GDP structure, innovation activity, transformation of export-import flows and response to the market signals. The input-output macroeconomic model with the two different input-output tables representing old and new production technologies has been applied for the analysis to simulate technological innovations and structural changes in the Russian economy during transition period. The Russian supply at the international GHG market without forest sector may be up to 3 billion metric ton of CO₂ equivalent. Earlier actions to reduce CO₂ emission are critical to insure the Russian supply at the international carbon market. With regard to the current status of the Russian capital market, the forward trading with OECD countries is only the possibility to raise initial investments to roll no-regret and low-cost GHG reduction. This paper discusses uncertainties of Russian CO₂ emission dynamics and analyzes the different incentives to lower the emission pathway.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1023/B:CLIM.0000018500.10179.bb

Affiliations: 1: Environmental Defense, 1875 Connecticut Av., NW, Washington D.C. 20009, U.S.A., Email: agolub@environmentaldefense.org 2: Environmental Defense, 1875 Connecticut Av., NW, Washington D.C. 20009, U.S.A.

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