Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday urged the international community to take joint measures against global climate change.
The Russian leader will attend a meeting of heads of states and governments on Thursday and Friday, to be held as part of the 15th UN climate change conference. The event is the result of two years of international talks on a binding treaty to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
"This problem [climate change] should be dealt with jointly, on the basis of scientific knowledge and realistic forecasts," Medvedev said at a meeting with members of the Russian Academy of Sciences, ahead of his participation in the Copenhagen conference.
The president said the negotiations in the Danish capital, which began on December 7, "have failed to produce any remarkable results so far."
"I'm not sure if we will manage to agree on a so-called binding treaty, which would oblige us to cut carbon emissions, but in any case, a set of principles and a roadmap on the issue could be agreed," he said, adding that the discussions are still ongoing.
The conference, which brings together about 15,000 participants from 192 countries, will run until Friday with the aim of forging a treaty that would replace the Kyoto Protocol. A new deal is needed to continue efforts after the protocol expires in 2012.
Medvedev said any post-Kyoto agreement should not encourage a "witch hunt" against hydrocarbon-rich countries, which would eventually result in widespread disregard of the deal and worldwide economic problems.
"Of course we should think of new energy sources, we must develop alternative sources of energy, but we should not abandon hydrocarbons, because if we embark on a witch hunt, nothing good will come out of it," he said.
Russia's emissions in 2006 were assessed at 34% below 1990 levels after the economic contraction of the early 1990s. Medvedev earlier wrote on his blog that Russia would restrict its greenhouse gas emissions to 25% of 1990 levels by 2020.
"The balance between cutting emissions and development lies in introducing modern technologies and energy efficient economy. And it is an unconditional priority for us, regardless of how we feel about the current climate change," Medvedev wrote on Monday.
The president also said that it was "a good idea" to hold a climate change conference in Russia.
MOSCOW, December 15 (RIA Novosti)
