Putin tells COP26 forest conservation vital to curbing climate change
Putin said last month Russia would aim for carbon neutrality by 2060
President Vladimir Putin said it was vital to protect forests to curb climate change and that Russia would draw on its own vast forestland to meet its emissions pledges, speaking in a pre-recorded video broadcast at the COP26 climate talks.
Putin, whose absence from the UN talks in Glasgow is seen as a setback to their chances of a breakthrough, said that Moscow supported a draft joint declaration on forests and land use at the talks.
"I'm convinced the conservation of forests and other natural ecosystems is a key component of international efforts to tackle global warming and reduce greenhouse gas emissions," he said, according to a Kremlin transcript.
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Russia, the world's fourth largest greenhouse gas emitter, is a major hydrocarbons producer and exporter, and the push for greener forms of energy is seen a serious challenge for the Russian economy.
Putin said last month Russia would aim for carbon neutrality by 2060, a decade later than the 2050 deadline climate scientists say is necessary if the worst impacts of global warming are to be avoided.
