Over the past two years Russia has experienced a green economy revolution. However, according to Anastasia Likhacheva, Director of the Centre for Integrated European and International Studies at the National Research University Higher School of Economics and RIAC expert, for a productive dialogue on the climate agenda, it is necessary for the European Union to stop perceiving Moscow as an adversary in the issue of climate protection.

Commenting on the results of the 26th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the expert recalled that two years ago the environmental agenda in Russia was limited to the national project "Ecology". "And in two or three years we have experienced a 'green' revolution with 'green' counter-revolutionaries at home," she said.

However, the different "speed of dialogue" is the main problem of the current "green" dialogue with the European Union, Likhacheva believes.

"We have entered the green agenda quite recently. In our own style, we have done as much in the field of green regulation in the last two years as other countries have done in years or even decades. We have adopted a low-carbon development strategy on the last working day before the summit, we signed it on Friday and on Monday we left", said the expert.

A NEW DIALOGUE

Habitual patterns make it difficult for the parties to accept each other's positions, Likhacheva said. "It turned out (at the conference) that we are not ready to play the role of a defiant interlocutor, who denies the "green" tax and talks about protectionism. We have our own position, our own principles, while the European Union has not moved to a new level of dialogue. For the previous ten years they had the position: 'We are building a bright green future, we will be built into it, because we are our largest importer, you will be built into it the way we say. We were fighting, but we weren't working. But our fetishization that everything done in the green agenda is done against us is outdated. Now we are beginning to work together and the process of synchronizing levels of dialogue is normal," Likhacheva stressed.

She noted that there are not many opportunities for creative cooperation with Europe at this stage. "But traditionally, the common threat is one of the favorite conciliatory means of all internationals," the expert noted.

Director General of the Russian Council on Foreign Affairs Andrei Kortunov also expressed confidence that the climate is a common problem of the countries.

"Everyone is interested in its solution. In our country, too, there are attempts to politicize it, to deny its importance. There are still points of view that Russia could benefit from climate change, which has been repeatedly rejected by Russian science, but the debate on climate change continues," - he said.

From October 31 to November 12 in Glasgow hosted the 26th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. There, representatives of global elites discussed implementation of the Paris Agreement and the transition to green energy.

Made in Russia / Made in Russia

Author: Maria Buzanakova