Sanctioned Russian billionaire says he wants Kremlin to stay involved in climate talks

The Russian billionaire said Wednesday he faces sanctions from the US and Europe over his ties to the Kremlin, and while he wasn’t surprised by the protests against Russia at this year’s UN climate change conference, Russia has become a global issue. He insisted that he wanted to stay involved because it would affect the country deeply.

Andrei Melnichenko, who heads the climate policy committee of the Russian business lobby group RSPP, said at a conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, “I will participate and observe regardless of the very frightening moment that we are all going through right now. ‘” he told the Associated Press. , Egypt.

Pro-Ukrainian activists disrupted the start of an event hosted by a Russian delegation at Tuesday’s climate talks, after which they were escorted by security guards.

“I wasn’t surprised. ‘What’s so surprising? That there are people who are deeply concerned about what is happening in Ukraine and want to speak out?'”

“I totally understand that 100 percent,” he said.

While his comments do not directly criticize Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, they offer a more nuanced view of the bloody conflict than the official Kremlin view of the war, which describes it as a “special military operation.” there is

The war has devastated Ukraine since late February, with bombs and artillery shelling ravaging towns and cities and killing thousands.

As a result of the war, a number of sanctions were imposed on Russian government officials and prominent businessmen with ties to the Kremlin.

Melnichenko, who now lives in Dubai, criticized Western sanctions against Russia. He said it was applied without considering possible consequences, such as the impact of export restrictions on chemical fertilizers on world food prices and Russia’s efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Russia is the world’s largest fertilizer exporter.

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“The sanctions have been put on the Russian economy like a blanket,” said Melnichenko, who once ran fertilizer maker Eurochem and SUEK, one of the world’s largest coal companies. “It affects everything. Take food and fertilizer supplies, for example.”

He claimed the sanctions had affected the food supply of “hundreds of millions” of people around the world.

“Of course, this decision will affect the possibility of Russia moving more quickly towards decarbonizing its economy,” Melnichenko added.

Russian participants in climate talks in Egypt have kept a low profile without senior government officials present. The Russian delegation is half the size of last year, but still larger than the US delegation, according to Carbon Brief’s analysis.

According to Melnichenko, Russia? In particular, with a focus on efforts to reduce emissions and increase reliance on fossil fuels, in addition to international carbon markets and carbon offsetting rules, the Russian government has identified significant potential for Russia’s giant forests. Heading.

Melnichenko said Russia will continue to export fossil fuels to meet demand and should let the market decide which form of energy is the most competitive. Russia, which faces sanctions from EU trading partners, is the largest exporter of oil and natural gas. Other countries such as India and China continue to import Russian oil.

“I believe that Russian fossil fuel production is globally very competitive in terms of total costs, including externalities,” he said. “That’s why Russia can maintain a fairly large share of the fossil fuel market for a very long time, a very long time. It will also benefit from that.”

Melnichenko, who has a net worth of about $23.5 billion according to Forbes, said the global community should pay more attention to the majority of greenhouse gas emissions not caused by human activity, such as respiration, decomposition and even volcanoes. Scientists say the global warming measured in recent decades is largely due to the large-scale burning of fossil fuels since industrialization.

Asked what role concerns about climate change play in Russian civil society, he said environmental problems such as air pollution have become more prominent in big cities over the past six to seven years.

A peaceful protest against the issue is possible, he argued. “And the government will really respond.”

“It’s one of the areas where freedom of expression is allowed,” he said. “It’s pretty safe in terms of the political environment, so it’s understandable.”

© 2022 The Canadian Press