The Russian president said last week at the energy forum that Russia aspires to carbon neutrality by 2060, a more ambitious strategy than the one shown so far.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will not travel to Glasgow to participate in the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP26), which is held from October 31 to November 12. This was announced on Wednesday by Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov. “Unfortunately, the president will not travel to Glasgow,” Peskov said in the course of a press conference without explaining the reasons for such a decision.
Already on October 13, in an appearance on the occasion of an energy forum, the top Russian leader already warned that he had not yet decided whether or not he would go to Glasgow, given the high incidence of covid-19 in the United Kingdom. What the spokesman for the Russian Presidency has suggested is the possibility that Putin could intervene in the climate conference by videoconference, since, in his words, climate change is “one of the most important priorities of foreign policy.” From Russia. He assured that the Slavic country will be represented in the Scottish city. The Russian head of state is not the only one who will not be in person in Glasgow, nor will his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping.
Putin said last week at the energy forum that Russia aims for carbon neutrality by 2060, a more ambitious strategy than the one shown so far. “In practice, Russia will strive to achieve carbon neutrality … we have set ourselves a concrete target: by 2060 at the latest,” he said.
In July, on the occasion of talks with Washington’s special envoy, John Kerry, the Kremlin issued a statement stating that “the climate problem is one of the sectors in which Russia and the United States have common interests and similar points of view. «. As Putin declared in April that “Russia fulfills its international obligations in this area responsibly”, referring in particular to the Kyoto protocol and the Paris climate agreement.
The thawing of the permafrost in Siberia and the fires, both phenomena linked to climate change, have made Putin aware, according to analysts, of the need to take action. Russia, one of the world’s leading oil and gas producers, is also a highly polluting country. Before, however, Putin always downplayed the role of humans in climate change.
The Russian president also has no intention of going to the G20 leaders’ summit in Italy. The head of the Kremlin spoke on Tuesday with the Prime Minister of Italy, Mario Draghi, to inform him of his absence from the summit. In September, he was confined for two weeks when a Covid outbreak was detected in his environment. Putin is vaccinated and last week he had to face a recurrent cough, which, in his words, “is not a bad thing (…) I got a little cold and nothing more.”
.
#Putin #declines #travel #Glasgow #climate #conference