In November 2009, the Russian State Duma adopted the Law on energy saving and energy efficiency. In accordance with Article 10 of the Law, selling of incandescent bulbs of 100 watts and above is prohibited since January 1, 2011. Since the same date, placing orders for supply of incandescent bulbs for the state or municipal needs is prohibited. Shoppers have noticed the disappearance of high-power incandescent bulbs from the shop shelves.
On January 14, 2011, British Petroleum (BP) and the largest Russian oil company Rosneft signed an agreement on co-operation in development of three oil fields in the Russian Arctic shelf. A catastrophe in the Arctic, even ten times smaller than what happened in the Gulf of Mexico, with high probability will have dire consequences for the nature of the Arctic ecosystems and seriously contribute in global climate change.
The website of the RSEU Climate Secretariat published actual list of legislative and normative documents of the Russian Federation relating to environmental protection. In addition to general documents, the list gives special attention to the environmental impact assessment, and presents documents relating to energy facilities, climate issues, etc. The author of the list is Valery Brinikh, an RSEU member.
In the near future, the Government of Norway will decide on whether to open up new areas in the north of Norway for oil and gas drilling. The sea areas off the coast of Lofoten, Vesterålen and Senja are among the most scenic and biodiveristy rich areas in Norway. Opening them up to oil and gas industry will not only put the valuable ecosystems at risk, but also further increase Norway's greenhouse gas emissions from a large and growing petroleum sector. RSEU supports Norwegian environmental non-governmental organizations in their fight against such a decision. RSEU signed a letter to the Prime Minister of Norway, asking him not to make a decision about opening the Lofoten Islands region for oil and gas production.
Last year environmental catastrophes and climate problems have come out on top in the lists of the leading news agencies of the world, heat waves and fires in Russia among them. However, little real action has been seen in the attempt to address the roots of the climate catastrophe.
The Russian yacht “Peter I” made the 4 months record polar circumnavigation in the Arctics. Its crew noted the catastrophic destruction of the Arctic Ocean ice cover. Will polar bears survive in such a situation?
Russian regional companies have recently officially become eligible to obtain permission to perform energy audit. At the moment the overwhelming majority of the organizations accredited by the state are situated in Moscow and St.Petersburg. The advancement of state accreditation procedures eastwards may become a step towards creating a system of uniform criteria and regulations and is also likely to speed up the implementation of regional energy efficiency plans.
Only in case energy auditing does not become a sort of duty and a new obligatory expense item.
One of the most vivid environmental problems in the world is decreasing area and thickness of ice in the Arctic Ocean. The Arctic environment is an indicator of global warming. At the same time, the Arctic natural systems contain mechanisms that can exert strong impact on the climate, unwinding "diabolical spiral" of warming. The effects of all these factors shall be studied seriously. In addition, the Arctic shelf stores huge hydrocarbon reserves. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin calls for study and conservation of the Arctic resources.
The Sverdlovsk region becomes a pilot territory for development of a regional low-carbon strategy. This region is the most energy and resources consuming not only in Russia, but in the whole world. Now it is the first region in Russia, which has officially approved the issue of greenhouse gases reduction and has proposed 25% of GHG emission reduction at the regional level.
Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District numbers 10 projects on GHG emissions reduction. These projects will secure total CO2 emissions reduction of about 18 million tons by 2012 and are likely to bring about 125 million Euro of investments to the regional economy. Will they be implemented within the Joint Implementation mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol?
In November 2009, the Russian State Duma adopted 
On January 14, 2011, British Petroleum (BP) and the largest Russian oil company Rosneft signed an agreement on co-operation in development of three oil fields in the Russian Arctic shelf. A catastrophe in the Arctic, even ten times smaller than what happened in the Gulf of Mexico, with high probability will have dire consequences for the nature of the Arctic ecosystems and seriously contribute in global climate change.
The website of the RSEU Climate Secretariat published actual list of legislative and normative documents of the Russian Federation relating to environmental protection. In addition to general documents, the list gives special attention to the environmental impact assessment, and presents documents relating to energy facilities, climate issues, etc. The author of the list is Valery Brinikh, an RSEU member.
Last year environmental catastrophes and climate problems have come out on top in the lists of the leading news agencies of the world, heat waves and fires in Russia among them. However, little real action has been seen in the attempt to address the roots of the climate catastrophe.
The Russian yacht “Peter I” made the 4 months record polar circumnavigation in the Arctics. Its crew noted the catastrophic destruction of the Arctic Ocean ice cover. Will polar bears survive in such a situation?