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30.06.2022 (Обновлено: 12.07.2022 12:04)

It is necessary to create conditions and incentives for polluting enterprises to use green technologies

"The Eurasian Economic Union seeks to formulate and promote its own vision of the climate agenda and green economy priorities," Andrey Panteleev, Head of the Section for Economic Policy Strategies of the EEC Macroeconomic Policy Department, informed at the 9th Forum of Belarussian and Russian Regions held on June 30 in Grodno.

The Forum was attended by representatives of state administration authorities of the Republic of Belarus and federal executive bodies of the Russian Federation, integration structures, scientific circles of Belarus and Russia.

"We proceed from the fact that the green economy concept is broader than the climate agenda with its emphasis on greenhouse gases and, in fact, involves the introduction of an integrated, science-based system of environmental and climate regulation," Andrei Panteleev said at the section Cooperation Between Belarus and Russia in the Context of the New International Climate Agenda.

According to the EEC representative, scientists' calculations show how considerable our countries' unused natural and environmental rent is. Thus, in the Russian Federation, currently collected payments for air pollution are about 0.3 – 0.4%, constituting an insignificant fraction of the actual damage caused. The total annual estimate of potential income from the assets of Russia's natural potential or, in other words, the unestimated damage from air pollution plus unaccounted water rent amounts to 2.7 trillion rubles.

"This resource should be capitalized for the needs of our own sustainable development. It can become a stable funding source for environmental and adaptation projects and help reduce environmental pollution," Andrey Panteleev believes.

In his speech, Anton Kudasov, Advisor to the Section for Economic Policy Strategies of the Macroeconomic Policy Department, emphasized that the EAEU countries, primarily Russia and Belarus, are actively enacting environment and climate legislation. In 2021 alone, Russia adopted 530 regulatory documents concerning the green agenda.

"As a result, in the next one or two years we can get an unprecedentedly large array of non-harmonized national legislations of countries that are integration partners in environmental protection. Moreover, the array affecting all economic sectors. This, in turn, will lead to new barriers in the common market," Anton Kudasov noted, "I believe that the problem can be solved only due to mutual recognition of national requirements."

The principle of mutual recognition of national environment and climate regulations can be implemented by adding just one article to the basic international treaties. Otherwise, we will have to unify hundreds or even thousands of national regulations.

In the resolution following the meeting, the participants noted that climate change is one of the key global problems. Due to climate change, national economies are facing the need to reduce the anthropogenic impact on nature and adapt to ongoing climate change. These challenges also require a response as the climate agenda is used for outside pressure.

It is necessary to create conditions and incentives for polluting enterprises to use green technologies and circular economy models.