Russia: President Vladimir Putin gave his seal of approval for Russia's crucial backing of the Kyoto Protocol, clearing the way for the UN environment pact aimed at curbing global warming to come into force early next year.
The Kremlin said Mr Putin signed a parliamentary bill late on Thursday confirming Russia's ratification of the protocol. Both chambers of Russia's parliament approved ratification of the pact last month after Mr Putin pointed the way.
The UN accord, backed by 126 countries, will formally enter into force 90 days after the Russian ratification documents are filed with the United Nations.
Russia's support became crucial after the United States, the world's biggest polluter, pulled out in 2001.
The 1997 Kyoto Protocol obliges rich nations to cut overall emissions of heat-trapping carbon dioxide by 5.2 per cent below 1990 levels by 2008-12 by curbing use of coal, oil and natural gas and shifting to cleaner energies such as solar or wind power.
To come into force, the pact needed to be ratified by countries accounting for at least 55 per cent of developed nations' greenhouse gas emissions.
Russia, which accounts for 17 per cent, became the key to Kyoto after Washington pulled out saying the pact was too costly and unfairly exempted large rapidly industrialising countries such as China and India.
Russia signed the Kyoto Protocol in 1999. But it agreed to ratify only in exchange for European Union agreement on terms for Moscow's admission to the World Trade Organisation.
Mr Putin signed the bill into law just days before he was due to meet leaders of the EU, which has urged Russia's ratification, at a summit in the Netherlands.
Rising global temperatures have been linked to extreme weather, including droughts, flooding and higher sea levels, which some see as possible sparks for conflicts. - (Reuters)