DUBAI, December 13. /TASS/. The final declaration of the 28th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28) is a "balanced set of recommendations" that will enable all countries to decide for themselves how to reach carbon neutrality, Head of the Russian Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring (Rosgidromet) Igor Shumakov said.

"As a result of the Global Stocktake we reached a balanced set of recommendations that provide achievable available and efficient measures. Meanwhile each country can choose the best recipe for decarbonization for itself, from nuclear generation to using renewable sources of energy," he said at the COP28 final plenary meeting on behalf of the Russian delegation, adding that the declaration’s text lines up the principles of the Paris Agreement.

The countries have the right to choose their own climate policy measures, Shumakov noted. That said, Moscow is against "green protectionism" and the introduction of unilateral policies that negatively influence the countries’ sustainable development, he stressed. Global climate tasks cannot be solved without international cooperation, an emphasis on freedom of trade and financial flows, as well as technology transfer, Russia’s official added.

On Wednesday, the Conference of the Parties, the head body of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, passed the declaration summarizing the first Global Stocktake focused on reaching the goals of the Paris Agreement. The document does not contain a provision to gradually phase out fossil fuels. Instead, the key part of the agreement stipulates measures to reduce emissions, and calls for a transition away from fossil fuels.