Ole Jensen/Demotix
30 November: Putin speaks
Today was the first day of the UN climate conference in Paris (#COP21) and it began with 130 heads of state and government addressing the conference. This year marks the first time in UN climate history that the conference has opened with the Leaders Summit - normally, the heads of state only arrive at the end of the second week once the intense climate negotiations have already been conducted by country delegates.
But this time around the COP opened with the lofty speeches of Obama, Cameron and co. in which they reconfirmed their commitment to fighting climate change and announced their domestic climate plans and policies. Next they will move on to the technical negotiations on the text of the new post-Kyoto climate agreement which should - all things gone well - result in the new Paris agreement being adopted by 11 December.
Joining other world leaders at the Summit today was Russia’s Vladimir Putin, who was among the first to speak. He used his time on stage to acknowledge the harm that climate change is already inflicting on Russia and the world: ‘Hurricanes, floods, droughts and other extreme weather phenomena caused by global warming are causing ever-greater economic losses and destroying our familiar and traditional environment. The quality of life of everyone on this planet, the global economic growth and sustainable social development of entire regions depend on our ability to resolve this climate problem.' In his speech he also summarised Russia's efforts in fighting climate change and noted Russia's sinking levels of greenhouse gas emissions throughout the 90s and 2000s; the role of the boreal forests in reducing global emissions; and the energy efficiency measures adopted by Russia so far.
Most of the Russian experts I have been speaking to here in Paris are reacting quite positively to Putin's speech as it seemed to reflect the marked change that has taken place over the past few years in Russia's attitude towards climate change. ‘Ten years ago climate change was something that people joked about in Russia. Five years ago is was an issue that still raised a lot of doubts among Russia's politicians and within its scientific communities. But today it is clear that Russia understands that it is in the same boat as everyone else; it acknowledges that climate change exists and that it is a serious threat to Russia and the world,’ Alexey Kokorin (head of the energy and climate programme with WWF-Russia).
