“Unchecked global warming will be bad for Russia,” he told reporters. “There are 5,000 miles [8,000km] of rail track built on permafrost, which will crumble as a result of this melting.”
So far, rich nations have offered emissions cuts averaging from 11 percent to 15 percent below 1990 levels by 2020. Poor nations want cuts of at least 40 percent to avert the worst of climate change.
Russia, which along with the US was accused by environmentalists of delaying Kyoto, has alarmed activists by saying it will release more greenhouse gases in 2020 than now under any new UN emissions treaty.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in June boasted his country would reduce emissions by between 10 percent and 15 percent from 1990 levels by 2020. But in reality, this means a 30 percent rise from current levels since emissions tumbled after the collapse of the Soviet Union and its smokestack industries.
“We are so angry about this and completely oppose it,” Greenpeace’s Chuprov said.
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