Green Economy in Europe (part 9)

Moldova

In an effort to shift to a more low-carbon economy, Moldova is taking measures to convert more of its agricultural land from conventional to organic farming.

Organic farming differentiates itself from conventional farming by ensuring the restricted use of chemical and synthetic inputs, prohibition of genetically modified crops, and wide crop rotation. There is a growing wealth of evidence pointing to the environmental benefits of organic farming compared to conventional farming, making organic agriculture very attractive to agriculture-based economies wishing to make a transition to a green economy.

Moldova's economy relies heavily on agriculture. Agricultural production and food processing activities contribute to 30% of national GDP and 70% of exports. This is due to Moldova’s favourable climate, high quality black soil, and geographical location close to large markets.

Due to the increasing international demand for organic products coupled with the significant environmental benefits, the Moldovan government has taken significant steps towards promoting organic agriculture. In 2009, 600 tonnes of organic vegetables were sold on the local market with a 20% government subsidy, providing farmers with a premium price.

http://www.greenup-unep.org/story/~organic-agriculture.htm?lng=en

Ukraine

Ukrainian industries occupy the leading position among the post-Soviet countries in reducing emissions of harmful substances into the environment. Ukrainian companies are implementing the green economy concept, stated the chief researcher at the Ukrainian Institute of Market Problems and Economic-Ecological Research of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, professor Tatiana Galushkina at the International Environmental Forum Environment for Ukraine, held in April 2011 in Kyiv.

For instance, Ukrainian JSC Zaporizhstal is among the most successful industries in implementing the ecological programs. In the last ten years, Zaporizhstal managed to decrease the amount of dust emissions into the atmosphere by 41%, the discharge of sewage water – by 30%; also, the company increased the reutilization of industrial wastewater by 86%. Leadership of the company mentioned that Zaporizhstal has undergone a significant modernization within the last six years.

At the same Forum, Olav Berstad, the Norwegian Ambassador to Ukraine, stated that Norway should serve as a role model for Ukraine on its way to implement the green economy.

The green economy concept was shaped within the last two decades. The concept harmonizes the coordination between economic, social and environmental components of Ukraine’s development.

http://wnu-ukraine.com/news/economy-business/?id=281

 

General Discussion on the Topic "Legislative Support of Transition to a Green Economy" was held at the Thirty Seventh Session of the PABSEC General Assembly in July 2011

Volodymyr Lytvyn, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation, opened the discussion. He declared that it is a timely event. "PABSEC member states made a common cause to strengthen a green economy and its environmental component," V.Lytvyn stressed.

Mykola Yankovskyi, Head of the Ukrainian delegation in PABSEC, stated, "First and foremost, a green economy presupposes changing the economic philosophy, moving from the exploitation of natural resources to their sustainable use. A number of countries started the transition to the model of an environmentally friendly development. Our country should follow the suit."

M. Yankovskyi stressed that transition to a green economy is vital for Ukraine in terms of making the industry environmentally friendly and implementing the international conventions and agreements. "Development of cleaner production remains topical. The concept of introduction and development of cleaner production by 2010 is being drafted. This issue is tackled by the inter-departmental working group including the experts of the United States Agency for International Development. The concept will shape the policy of economic eco-balancing and introduce a cleaner economy into the industrial, agrarian, transport and construction sectors. Legal acts on a green economy are being drafted," the reporter informed. M. Yankovskyi named nearly ten laws and other normative acts aimed at the introduction and development of a green economy in Ukraine.

M. Yankovskyi admitted that numerous issues impede the development of a green economy. He stated that Ukraine has one of the most energy intensive and resource-consuming economies, rooted in the past, whose technological infrastructure pollutes the environment and shapes the negative image of our state. "Therefore, the transition from the industrial to a green economy faces numerous legislative, financial, technical and technological obstacles. Ukraine has chosen its way and realizes the deadlock of the current economic model which affects the future generations," the reporter stressed.

M. Yankovskyi emphasized that Ukraine has an enormous potential for developing a green economy, solar and wind power engineering, establishing minihydro power plants, and producing biofuel. "Positive changes hold out hope that the legislator, the government and the president will support this initiative, so that Ukraine would change to sustainable development, successfully implementing the ‘green economy model.´ Then we will live in the country, which set the goal to become one of the leaders by the life quality and the Human Development Index in a decade," the Head of the Ukrainian delegation concluded.

Other reporters stressed that development of a green economy is an essential means of supporting a healthy environment, while introduction of environmentally-safe practices will reorient the economy towards cleaner production.

http://portal.rada.gov.ua/rada/control/en/publish/article/info_left?art_id=279577&cat_id=105995

Belarus

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of Belarus intends to begin developing principles of economy functioning through "green standards." This was stated by head of the ministry Vladimir Tsalko in February 2012. According to him, such standards are implemented in Russia, Poland and Ukraine.

"This is particularly relevant after the European Conference of Ministers in Astana and before the upcoming 2012 World Summit on Sustainable Development "Rio +20," which will be attended by heads of state around the world. A new model of economic development all over Europe – the "green economy" – is on agenda, he said, BelTA informs.

"The initiative of Kazakhstan - Partnership Program "Green Bridge" – is also noteworthy. Its purpose is to support voluntary and mutually beneficial cooperation between countries in Europe, Asia and the Pacific Ocean in the transition to a "green economy" to save the environment and eradicate poverty," said Vladimir Tsalko. He ordered to determine the position of Belarus in international negotiations on this issue. "The main focus should be placed on creating incentives for the business community and international donors in environmental projects," said the Minister.

Vladimir Tsalko also noted the need for greening the Belarusian people beginning from educational institutions to the business community, as well as the heads of enterprises and government officials.

Head of MNR says the ministry is implementing 10 projects of international technical assistance in the amount of more than $17 million. "Last year, successful negotiations were held to raise funds for new projects in the field of climate change, wind energy, biodiversity, land degradation, the "green economy" and water resources with a total budget of more than $36 million," he said.

Vladimir Tsalko urged to better use the potential of Belarus in implementation of environmental projects and to attract large international companies to such projects. The Minister instructed the district committees at the regional and local levels to take part in the development of new projects. As for departments, they are tasked to begin work on attracting grants, while the heads of institutions - to develop plans to bring technical assistance to various sectors of environmental management within a month.

http://telegraf.by/en/2012/02/minprirodi-hochet-ozelenit-belorusskuyu-ekonomiku

Russia

Environmentally-oriented modernisation of the Russian economy is moving on, albeit not exactly effortlessly. New projects are being implemented; both the business community and the government have really started doing something about this problem.

That’s the main conclusion one could make after the conference “Green Economy as Modern Russia’s Priority” which took place in March, 2011 attended by representatives of government agencies, public associations, large corporations and innovative companies.

 

What seems particularly worrying in terms of environmental risks in Russia? physical wear and tear of equipment at fuel and energy complex companies is as high as 60%; for oil and gas complex companies (production, transportation and storage), this figure is even higher: 70%-80%; about 90% of industrial waste is not recycled. Urgent steps need to be taken to reduce these risks, in all areas – investments in upgrading production facilities, improved legislation and, even more importantly, new attitude; many of the conference participants stressed this point.

 

But something is actually being done to bring about “green” modernisation of the country, and more than some may think. Many companies, ranging from financial and industrial giants to small innovative firms, presented their projects. Quite a few of them are of breakthrough nature, capable of making Russia one of the world leaders. Most importantly, they’re aimed at radically increasing the overall energy and resource efficiency of the Russian economy. Each of these projects deserves a detailed description, and we’re going to do just that soon; meanwhile here’s a short list of most interesting ones:

 

Projects aimed at “green” modernisation of the Russian economy

• Russian Railways’ designs include the first-ever liquefied gas gas-turbine locomotive, and the “smart station” in Anapa. The company is systematically working to reduce overall energy consumption and negative environmental side-effects of railway transportation;
• Liotech is a joint venture of the Russian RUSNANO Corporation and the Chinese Thunder Sky; the company offers radically new energy storage solutions. In effect it’s a breakthrough both in power engineering and motor industry, facilitating the transition to hybrid and electric cars;
• Sollers is in the process of deep environmentally-oriented modernisation of the company’s car factories;
• Optogan – Onexim’s daughter – offers LEDs which, if applied on a sufficiently large scale, would reduce the country’s lighting system’s energy consumption by 80%;
• Profotech (also affiliated with Onexim) designed electric transformers which could work in a very wide range of conditions; according to the company’s spokesman, they’d prevent such accidents as happened at the Chagino substation in 2005 and the Sayano–Shushenskaya hydropower plant in 2009.
• Major projects such as the 2014 Sochi Olympics also involve environmentally-friendly solutions, based on best international practices – according to the spokesman of Sochi 2014 Organisational Committee. The same goes for facilities which will be constructed for the FIFA World Cup 2018.

However, the conference wasn’t just about answers: quite a few new questions were raised during the debates. In particular, development of “green” economy and innovation activities generally are hindered by low market demand; accordingly, ways should be found to increase it. One of the participants put this in a rather alarming way: our fundamental national programmes set an objective to increase the share of alternative energy sources in the overall national production to 4.5% by 2020; compare it with 20%-25% in Western Europe and North America. Note also that a few decades ago Russia (then the USSR) has been a world leader in the alternative energy field. Obviously we’re not approaching this issue ambitiously enough.

Another disturbing thing is an apparent gap between the systemic nature of problems and the individual solutions being proposed to deal with them, and to promote further development. On the one hand we have fundamentally obsolete production facilities and communal infrastructures, which is fraught with a major disaster; on the other – individual, even if breakthrough, technical solutions.

 

Also, as yet another conference participant noted, almost nothing has been said about alternative energy projects – wind, solar, small hydropower plants, or about recycling industrial and domestic waste either.

 

Still, it’s just a beginning. This event, in terms of its subject matter and the level of representation, was one of the first (if not the first) in Russia. The participants pledged to press on with their projects and meet regularly to discuss emerging problems and barriers, and submitted a memorandum to that effect to the RF President Dmitri Medvedev.

 

http://int.rgo.ru/news/making-the-economy-greener/

 

Images source: http://www.crossed-flag-pins.com

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Russia

Russia is the largest country of the world, covering 11.5% of its territory. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the west to the Japan Sea in the east and it comprises 11 time zones. Russia has 14 neighbours: Azerbaijan, Belarus, China, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Mongolia, North Korea, Norway, Poland, and Ukraine. The capital city is Moscow. Another very important administrative and cultural centre is Saint Petersburg, often referred to as the second capital. There are over 1000 towns and cities in Russia.

Russia enjoys a vast territory, rich historic and cultural heritage and wild nature in many of its regions. The size and diversity of landscapes make it anything but a dull country. From sea resorts at the Black Sea and the Baltic Sea and the forests of the Central Russia to the foothills of the Caucasus, Siberian taiga and the Far East one has plenty of things to discover.

Russia’s rich history bears the traces of Vikings, ancient Slavs, Mongols and Tatars, Scythians, Swedish, Greeks and other peoples. Grand princes, monarchs and emperors adjoined and lost lands and peoples. Democratic and authoritarian rulers replacing one another, built palaces, established museums, left mausoleums and grand multi-storey buildings, powerful power plants, but also camps for the repressed.

 

Environmental challenges in Russia

Decades of Soviet mismanagement have resulted in the catastrophic pollution of land, air, rivers, and seacoasts, although the USSR did manage reforestation with some success.

• By-products of nuclear weapons production caused permanent damage in southern Siberia, and in the Ural Mountains. The Soviet military tested nuclear weapons on the islands of Novaya Zemlya in the Arctic Ocean, which was their second testing site after Semey, Kazakhstan. Nuclear reactors and wastes were dumped into the Barents and Kara seas of the far north, and in far eastern Siberia. Dumping of nuclear wastes in the Sea of Japan continued until 1993. The disposal of nuclear submarines and nuclear waste is still a problematic issue. Although some have been decommissioned, many are still docked at Russian ports as a result of a lack of money and facilities for storing nuclear wastes. Moreover, fallout from the explosion at Ukraine’s Chernobyl’ nuclear power plant affected Russia primarily in Bryansk Oblast.

• Air pollution is especially a problem in the Urals and Kuznetsk (hazardous emissions from metal-processing plants) as well as in the Volga and Moscow regions. Russia's air is among the most polluted in the world, although its quality has been improving since the 1990s. Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and Volgograd, as well as other major industrial and population centers, are the highest concentrations of air pollution. When industrial production declined, emissions of air pollutants from those sources also declined, although the amount of motor vehicles on the roads skyrocketed. Currently, vehicle emissions exceed industry emissions in most Russian cities.

• Water pollution is a serious problem in Russia. Obsolete and inefficient water treatment facilities, as well as a lack of funding, have caused heavy pollution, and also resulted in waterborne disease spread. Many Russian cities are not equipped with adequate sewage treatment plants. Lake Baikal was previously a target of environmental pollution from paper plants, but cleanup efforts since then have greatly reduced the ecological strain on the lake. The Volga River has been damaged through rash exploitation of hydroelectric power. Pollutants released into rivers have accumulated in lakes and seas with limited water exchange, including the Caspian Sea, the Sea of Azov, and the Black Sea. A toxic layer of hydrogen sulfide covers the Black Sea, due in part to organic compounds from agricultural byproducts and untreated sewage.

• Chemical fertilizers and airborne pollutants have contaminated some agricultural areas. Soil resources have also been adversely affected by mismanagement. Broad areas of land in southern Russia suffer from erosion. Wind erosion has affected the more arid parts of the North Caucasus, lower Volga River basin, and western Siberia.

• Airborne pollutants have caused damage to vegetation in many areas of Russia. Forests in more accessible parts of the country suffer from deforestation caused by extensive logging. Illegal logging is also widespread, especially in the north-west and in the Far East parts of Russia. Some large stands of undisturbed forests are protected in Russia’s extensive network of national reserves and parks. Adequate funding for park rangers and other personnel is lacking, however, and poaching of endangered animals such as the Siberian tiger has increased as a result. Inefficient logging and clearcutting strategies result in 40% of harvested trees never being used, and the implementation of forest protection policies has been slow. About 3.1% of Russia's total land area was protected as of 2001. The same year, there were 31 mammal species, 38 bird species, and 129 species of plants listed as threatened. Endangered species include Atlantic sturgeon, beluga, crested shelduck, Amur leopard, Siberian tiger, Mediterranean monk seal, Wrangel lemming, and the Oriental stork. The great auk, Palla's cormorant, and Steller's sea cow have become extinct.

• Climate change will prove to have profound impacts on Russia’s environment, economy and society. Environmental concerns include fresh water scarcity (due in part to irrational use of water and fresh water waste), thawing of permafrost impacting natural ecosystems, and melting of Arctic glaciers. Some of the most vulnerable sectors involve agriculture, forestry, water supply systems, buildings and engineering constructions, transportation infrastructure in the permafrost zones, etc.

 

 

Citizens’ community involvement

Civic engagement in Russia is quite low. One reason may be a lack of public trust in CSOs as just one third of the people trust CSOs of at least one kind. In addition, low levels of trust in political institutions in general could cause low levels of political involvement. Moreover, a few negative phenomena can be observed in Russia. Firstly, there are servile organisations built from above by the party in power or other political groups that are focused on discrediting political opponents in rather dubious ways. Neither founders nor members of these organisations are interested in public recognition of their activities. Secondly, there are coalitions of opposition groups which arise quickly and disappear just as fast, being established only for short-term political goals.

However, while there are low levels of involvement in formal voluntary work connected with CSO activities, a more positive picture emerges if volunteering outside formal CSO structures is examined. A research investigating volunteering in Russia conducted by the CSCSNS in 2009 shows that volunteer engagement is much more widespread. This study showed that 61% of Russians took part in at least one kind of voluntary activity during the past year. When natural fires spread across Russia in 2010, CSOs showed their capabilities as catalysts of constructive public activity under emergency conditions.

The predominant type of attitude towards the environment in Russia is characterised by the adaptation of environmental behaviour to modern life and a distancing of most of the population from participating in solving ecological problems. However, environmental NGOs are active campaigners. The Russian environmental movement appears to be well entrenched, with environmental organisations working in each of Russia’s eighty-nine constituent regions and actively addressing issues from nuclear safety to protection of local parks. The methods of civil society’s work to sustain the environment include advocacy, practical actions to clean environment, resolutions and open letters.

Government environmental policies

In 2005, the environmental legal framework in Russia comprised more than 30 federal laws as compared to only six laws/codes that existed in the early 1990s. Furthermore, environmental requirements are scattered through hundreds of secondary legal acts. Besides domestic legislation, many international legal acts have been ratified. There are many other sources of environmental law, for instance judicial practice and judicial precedent. As a consequence, it is not always clear which norms apply in a specific case thus creating confusion for regulators and regulatees alike.

Russian law does not provide for an integrated environmental permit. Companies must obtain separate permits, each aimed at either protecting a specific environmental medium or regulating a specific type of environmental impact. Companies must generally obtain permits for: air emissions, water use, waste water discharge, waste management or placement. In addition, most industrial facilities must arrange for a sanitary protection (a buffer) zone and have it approved by the controlling public agency. Additional permits may be required subject to the nature of the specific industrial facility.

There are no specific environmental taxes. However, companies make payments for "any adverse environmental impact on the environment" that their activities cause, which can be viewed, under certain circumstances, as an environmental tax. The polluter is the main party liable to pay environmental taxes.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

CSR in Russia has been developing in the last years. There are a lot of practical examples of social investments made by Russian businesses. However, only the big businesses (Russian corporations and transnational companies) and familiar with the notion of CSR may afford to have CSR in place and only a handful of companies are able to work in the sphere of local community development.

Despite the unfavourable legislative environment, hundreds of thousands of commercial companies find “holes” in the legislation in order to carry out charity activity. In the year 2002 67% of top manager considered charity a pure altruism, and only 7% thought it will allow the company to advance its work with the target markets. The overall environment for charity in Russia is considered as unsatisfactory by 76 % of companies’ top managers.

The negative side of the otherwise rather positive picture of CSR in Russia is that where social investments are made on a wider scale (and also locally), the areas of concern are strongly pointed out to the companies by the authorities. In other words, companies find themselves obliged by authorities to fund certain projects and invest in certain social infrastructure. This pattern cannot be called a genuine CSR.

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Sources and further reading:

http://naturvernforbundet.no/international/environmental-issues-in-russia/category930.html
http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Europe/Russia-ENVIRONMENT.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_issues_in_Russia
http://www.climatecalendar.ca/country/russian-federation

http://www.civicus.org/images/stories/csi/csi_phase2/civicis%20russia%20eng.pdf
http://www.practicallaw.com/6-503-2842?q=*&qp=&qo=&qe=
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/63/18/38118149.pdf
http://www.russiatourism.ru/en/rubriki/-1124140381/

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