President of the Research Center “Kurchatov Institute” Mikhail Kovalchuk, during the Gaidar Forum, said that Russia could receive money from other countries for the absorption ability of its forests. His words leads the correspondent “Renta.ru.”
“We are the carbon neutral country. We [other countries] should pay for the fact that we are throwing little [carbon dioxide], and our forests, because the biggest, absorb many. And they explain to us it is not clear what”, – Noted Kovalchuk.
He also called on to develop new areas of agriculture, which can participate in carbon dioxide absorption. “It [New Agriculture] will eat this carbon dioxide and the entire chemical industry, processing into biodiesel, and then – in amber or milk acid, which is the basis of the entire chemical industry,” said the head of the Kurchatov Institute.
Discussions on the absorbency of Russian forests are held against the background of the preparation of the European Union to the introduction of cross-border carbon tax, which will be charged with the goods imported to EU countries, provided that manufacturers cannot prove the environmental friendliness of their release or pay similar fees in the country of production.
In its own plans for decarbonization of the economy, Russia itself makes a serious bet on the growth of the absorbing ability of forests. By the middle of century, it should be as planned in the government, should increase by about twice as compared with the figures of 2019. Specialists skeptically evaluate such an approach to decarbonization and indicate that forests themselves are a risky asset due to fires and pests. At the same time, the combustion of forests also leads to emissions to the atmosphere, which may be greater than the absorption.