Russian CO2 Output Up 11% 1999 - 2004 - Russian Government Report

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MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's greenhouse gas emissions rose by nearly 11 percent between 1999 and 2004, an official document submitted by the Russian environmental monitoring agency to the United Nations showed on Monday. This is the first time in half a decade that Russia -- the world's third largest polluter -- has submitted greenhouse gas emission data essential for measuring its impact on climate.

Most industrialised nations, except the United States and Australia, have ratified the Kyoto Protocol which obliges a 5.2 percent cut in emissions below 1990 levels by 2012. Russia's pollution levels dropped by nearly 40 percent during the industrial decline after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union and it had hoped to cash in via pollution trading schemes by selling its excess allowance to other polluters.

"For Kyoto this is important because at last Russia has submitted data which means they are serious about the pact," said Alexei Kokorin, climate change specialist at WWF in Russia. Next month governments meet in Kenya, home to the United Nations Environment Programme, to discuss how to replace the Kyoto protocol when it expires in 2012. The new figures from Roshydromet, the Russian environmental monitoring agency, gave emission data for 2000 until 2004. The only submissions by Russia since 1990 were for 1998 and 1999. Nobody from Roshyrdomet was available for comment.

Russian emissions rose to 2.074 billion tonnes in 2004 from 1.873 billion tonnes in 1999, data from Roshydromet said. This is still 30 percent below 1990 levels but a 1.5 percent increase from 2003.

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