Russia approves Kyoto investment rules: Interfax

Moscow, May 30: Russia has approved rules that will allow firms to invest under the terms of the Kyoto Protocol, Interfax news agency reported today, citing an unidentified government source.

Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov signed a government decree yesterday which defines the rules for investment under the Kyoto Protocol, the source said, without giving further details.

Russia could make billions of dollars from the Kyoto pact, which aims to stabilise emissions of greenhouse gases worldwide.

The pact allows firms to invest in foreign countries and book cuts in the gases achieved in those countries as their own.

But since Russia ratified the treaty in 2004, it has made little progress on implementing the mechanisms necessary for investment.

Russian emissions of greenhouse gases plunged in the 1990s with the collapse of Soviet-era smokestack industries but have risen as the economy booms for the eighth straight year. Levels are still far below 1990 levels.

Reuters>