Russian President Vladimir Putin surprised the world Friday by throwing the UN's Kyoto protocol on climate change a lifeline, disregarding official advice to kill it off.
The UN and many environmentalists hailed Putin's decision, which revives the 1997 protocol as the main plan to reduce gases that cause global warming. The protocol stalled after the US pulled out of the deal in 2001 but Russia's support would enable it to take effect anyway.
Speaking after talks with EU officials, which agreed to terms for Russian entry into the WTO, Putin said Russia would move rapidly to ratify.
Just the day before, high-level sources said Russia planned a new lengthy round of consultations lasting until August.
"This is a very welcome and positive signal," said Klaus Toepfer, head of the UN Environment Program.
"It is vital that the Kyoto protocol enters into force as a first step toward stabilizing the global climate," he said in a statement.
"Ratification by Russia is the last crucial step needed to make Kyoto operational," he said.
The pact has hinged on Russia since the US, the world's leading producer of greenhouse gases, pulled out, arguing it was too costly and wrongly excluded poor nations.
Kyoto cannot come into force unless countries responsible for 55 percent of rich nations' greenhouse gas emissions ratify it. Kyoto has reached 44 percent and Russia's 17 percent will tip the balance without Washington's 36 percent.
Putin had previously refused to back Kyoto and had demanded state bodies first send official recommendations.
The two reports so far prepared -- by the Academy of Sciences and a Putin adviser -- criticized the pact, and observers were baffled that Putin would go ahead and back it before the process he set up had concluded.
"I really did not expect this," said Alexei Kokorin, a Kyoto expert at the World Wildlife Foundation, an environmental group.
"He spoke without official advice, but it shows that he is well informed," Kokorin said.
"Putin always has the last word," he said.
Kyoto seeks to restrain emissions of carbon dioxide, mainly from cars and factories, as a step to slow climate change that may spread deserts, trigger mudslides and typhoons and melt glaciers.
Analysts had long expected Putin would only give in to EU pressure over Kyoto in return for an agreement for Russia to enter the WTO. They say the pact was a minor issue for the Russian president, and mainly of use as a bargaining chip.
Putin explicitly linked the events: "The fact that the EU has met us halfway in negotiations on the WTO could not but have helped Moscow's positive attitude to the question of ratifying the Kyoto Protocol," he said.
But observers warned that Russia had a lot to do to prepare for the pact, and that approval was still not definite.
"I'm cautiously optimistic. It's not a cut-and-dried promise but it will be much harder for Russia to decide `no' to Kyoto now," said Steve Sawyer, climate policy director at Greenpeace.
And no one made big promises to Moscow, which hopes to attract new investments.
"Russia's signature would be of crucial importance" for Kyoto, said Frauke Stamer, spokeswoman for the German Environment Ministry, adding that Moscow would not benefit from ratifying until it actually entered into force.
Russia will have no problem complying with Kyoto's goals because its emissions have crashed along with the collapse of Soviet-era industries, giving it spare "hot air" to sell abroad.
New York-based Evolution Markets, which trades emissions credits, said that Putin's decision could spur interest in the market.
"Canada and Japan are most likely going to be net buyers," spokesman Evan Ard said.
Texas-based Exxon Mobil, the world's largest publicly traded energy company, said in a statement it opposes caps on greenhouse emissions.
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