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Importer and exporter tools will be different under "green" agenda — Siluanov

Russian Finance Minister emphasized that the ultimate goal for all countries is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov Anton Novoderezhkin/TASS
Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov
© Anton Novoderezhkin/TASS

MOSCOW, July 9. / TASS /. The tools that will be used by the exporting countries of natural resources as part of the work on the "green" agenda are likely to differ significantly from the tools used in the importing countries, said Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov on Friday at the G20 Symposium on Tax Policy and Climate Change in Venice.

"There is no one-size-fits-all path to carbon neutrality," Siluanov said. "In order to prevent a decrease in the quality of life of people, the instruments that will be used by exporting countries of natural resources in the framework of the work on the green agenda are likely to differ significantly from the instruments used in importing countries. The ultimate goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions," said Siluanov. The symposium participants voiced the countries' approaches to tax policy that contribute to solving the problems of climate change and environmental protection. Coordination of actions in a multilateral format is called the key point in the work on the issues of the "green" economy, he said.

Siluanov noted that comparing to 1990, Russia has reduced greenhouse gas emissions to a greater extent than many other countries. These emissions have been halved, to 1.6 bln tonnes." These results were achieved thanks to a radical restructuring of the Russian industry and energy sector. "More than 40% of the Russian energy balance is made up of low-emission energy sources, including nuclear energy," said Siluanov.

During his speech, Siluanov recalled that Russia is interested in participating in the discussion of the mechanism for transboundary carbon regulation (TUR), calling this mechanism effective. "In the case of differentiated application of the TUR to goods from different countries, depending on which instruments the country uses to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and whether these instruments are recognized in the EU, this will contradict the basic principles of the WTO," he said. As the key areas of joint work, Siluanov noted the need to define an international platform that would develop common principles and approaches to global regulation of climate issues, as well as put together the basic principles of multilateral cooperation on the green agenda in the G20. This would ensure open interaction between partners and the absence of discrimination, according to the Ministry of Finance.