03/10/2005 - Brussels, Belgium
/ London, UK / Moscow, Russia – On 3-4 October
the EU and Russia will hold their annual summit,
as well as the first meeting of their Permanent
Partnership Council on Energy. In light of
this, WWF criticises the old-style approach
focused on oil, gas and pipelines, which continues
to dominate at the expense of renewable energy.
The global conservation organisation urges
the EU to take the same approach adopted with
China and put renewable energy at the heart
of its international talks on energy and climate
issues. At the recent EU-China Summit, a good
agreement was adopted to promote renewable
energy and build a lower-carbon economy.
"By joining forces towards non-carbon
energy, the EU and Russia could significantly
contribute to the reduction of global greenhouse
gas emissions, thus combating climate change.
However the agenda of this Summit, as well
as the overall priorities of the EU-Russian
energy relations, seems to have gone back
to the seventies, when the entire debate was
geared towards oil, gas and nuclear and supply
pipelines", said Jennifer Morgan, Director
of WWF Global Climate Change Programme.
"Why is this Summit falling behind the
standards set by the EU with countries like
China?"
"Renewable energy can bring massive
economic benefits as well as climate protection
to Russia, but the Russian Government has
not understood this thus far", added
Alexey Kokorin, Climate Change Programme Coordinator
of WWF Russia.
"It is particularly surprising that
the EU is so silent on renewable energy when
talking to Russia, while this is not the case
with countries like China".
The domestic situation points to the need
for active international efforts to tip the
energy balance in Russia towards greater use
of renewable energy. Although melting permafrost
is recognised as a serious problem, and the
growth of global oil prices and the consequential
growth of domestic petrol prices is understood
as a rather troubling problem for Russia,
there is no respectable climate policy from
the Russian government.
According to WWF, an additional working group
focussing on renewable energy should be created
under the Permanent Partnership Council on
Energy.
Furthermore, energy efficiency and renewable
energies should be included in the foreseen
co-operation on public procurement as well
as in the automotive industry dialogue.
