MOSCOW, December 17. /TASS/. By 2050, Russia can become global leader in natural CO2 absorption with large forests, Vice President of Lukoil Leonid Fedun said on Friday.

"Russia can become a global donor of CO2 absorption," Fedun said. At the same time, half of such absorbing capacity by 2050 will be achieved through climate projects, he added.

According to Fedun, Russia today ranks first in the world in terms of forest area - natural absorber of carbon dioxide. As of 2019, the absorbing capacity of Russian forests was estimated at 535 mln tonnes of CO2 equivalent. However, due to a more consistent accounting of the forest area and the implementation of climate projects, the absorbing capacity of Russian forests may increase by 2050 to 2.2 bln tonnes of CO2 equivalent.