Moscow — A senior adviser to President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Russia cannot ratify the Kyoto Protocol limiting greenhouse-gas emissions, dealing a mortal blow to the pact that required Russia's ratification to take effect.
“In its current form, the Kyoto Protocol places significant limitations on the economic growth of Russia,” Mr. Putin's economic adviser, Andrei Illarionov, told reporters in the Kremlin. “Of course, in this current form this protocol can't be ratified.”
Mr. Putin had previously cast doubts on Moscow's willingness to ratify the protocol, but had not completely ruled out ratification.
The 1997 Kyoto Protocol calls for countries to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases, which are seen as a key factor behind global warming.
To come into force, the pact must be ratified by at least 55 countries, accounting for at least 55 per cent of global emissions in 1990. Under the treaty's complex rules, the minimum can be reached only with Russia's ratification because the United States, the world's biggest producer of greenhouse gases, has rejected the treaty.
Ottawa has ratified the accord, and officials have said Canada will implement the treaties goals even if Russia backs out.
Russia's reluctance to ratify the pact despite its earlier pledge to do so has vexed Kyoto's European and other UN backers, who warned Moscow that it would lose politically and economically if it failed to ratify Kyoto.
But Mr. Illarionov, who made his comments on the sidelines of Mr. Putin's meeting with European business executives at the Kremlin, said firmly that the pact is against Russian interests.
“It's impossible to undertake responsibilities that place serious limits on the country's growth,” he said.
He added that it would be unfair to Russia to curb emissions and stymie its own growth while the United States and others that account for the bulk of global emissions refuse to join the pact.
The protocol's proponents see Kyoto as vital, warning that failure to quickly put it into force could trigger a dangerous, steep rise in greenhouse gas concentrations that would be far more difficult to control in the future.
