A Russian energy revolution
Minister of Finance Alexei Kudrin wants Russian to undergo an “energy revolution” with energy efficiency measures making the country save 40 percent of its current consumption by year 2020.
It is the Russian Ministry of Economic Development which is leading the Russian bid to save energy. As BarentsObserver, the issues was on top of the agenda in the recent State Council meeting in Arkhangelsk. President Dmitry Medvedev, who first made the ambitious pledge last summer based on 2007 energy usage, was attending a Group of Eight summit in Italy that included talks on energy efficiency on Thursday, the Moscow Times reports. The drive for energy efficiency has been more of a long-term economic interest than an environmental concern, the newspaper maintains. Russia remains skeptical however to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Top presidential economic adviser Arkady Dvorkovich on Wednesday turned a cold shoulder to a G8 initiative to lower greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050, citing in part his country’s drive to boost efficiency. The target was “not acceptable or attainable,” because “it would hinder our economic growth,” he said, adding that Russia’s carbon emissions were already 30 percent lower than in the benchmark year 1990.
