Russia expects UN conference to adopt clear rules to implement Paris Agreement

Russia expects that the UN Climate Change Conference in Poland’s Katowice will adopt clear rules to implement the Paris Agreement, the head of the Russian delegation, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Dmitry Kobylkin said in an interview with TASS.

"We expect that a final set of rules to implement the Paris Agreement will be adopted. This is the most important thing for us. There must be clear, comprehensible rules that would not permit interpretations," he said.

When speaking about possible difficulties, the Russian environment minister pointed out that many developing countries still insisted all states be divided into developed and developing as far as obligations under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change was concerned. "Our goal is to prevent disputes between developing and developed countries over rules to implement the Paris Agreement," Kobylkin pointed out. "If a dispute begins, then what was signed in Paris will never be implemented, while the issue under discussion is very important and cannot but cause concern to Russia," he added.

The UN Climate Change Conference, which involves about 30,000 participants from nearly 200 countries, is taking place in the Polish city of Katowice on December 2-14. It includes the 24th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP24), the 14th Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP 14) and the Conference of Signatories to the Paris Agreement (CMA 1). The main objective of the conference is to develop a roadmap for the implementation of the Paris Agreement.

The Paris Climate Agreement, signed on December 12, 2015, sets a goal of keeping global warming below two degrees Celsius compared to the pre-industrial average.