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U.S.-Russian Joint Commission on Economic and Technological Cooperation
Record of Discussions: Environment Committee
- I. Climate Change
- II. Stratospheric Ozone Depletion
- III. Environmental Problems in the Arctic
- IV. Nature Conservation
- V. Environmental Technical Assistance
- VI. Environmental Finance
- VII. Mobile-Source Pollution
- VIII. Persistent Bioaccumulative Toxics
- IX. Other Issues
In connection with the upcoming [eleventh] session of the U.S.-Russian Joint Commission on Economic and Technological Cooperation (Gore-Primakov Commission-GPC), a meeting of the Environment Committee took place January 21-22, 1999, in Moscow. At this meeting, the two sides took stock of bilateral cooperation in the realm of environmental protection and sustainable management of natural resources, outlined plans for further joint work, and discussed preparations for the next GPC session.
The U.S. delegation was headed by William A. Nitze, Assistant Administrator for International Activities, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The Russian delegation was headed by V.I. Danilov-Danilyan, Chairman, R.F. State Committee for Environmental Protection (SCEP).
I. Climate Change
Further U.S.-Russian efforts toward shaping and implementing the "flexibility mechanisms" provided for in the Kyoto Protocol are a matter of highest priority for the Committee. Cooperation in this direction can be particularly useful in establishing the credibility of a system for the international trading/purchase of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission allowances. The joint workshop and business roundtable on emissions trading, held in Moscow last summer with the support of USAID and EPA, clarified a number of questions on this topic and generated practical suggestions for future collaboration.
The two sides discussed ways in which an international transfer of R.F. GHG emission allowances might take place before entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol in order to spur development of an international emissions trading system, encourage investment in clean technology, and provide a source of needed revenue for GHG reductions in the R.F. SCEP has submitted for GOR approval a procedure for the participation of R.F. agencies and organizations in such trades. Also pending within the GOR is a decision on signature of the Kyoto Protocol. The Russian side described work currently underway to examine issues related to eventual R.F. implementation of Kyoto Protocol requirements. The Russian side also briefly outlined a number of projects to reduce GHG emissions, examine GHG monitoring and verification systems, enhance energy efficiency, and improve forest management.
The Committee intends to propose for consideration at the upcoming Joint Commission meeting a joint statement on development of "flexibility mechanisms" to reduce GHG emissions. From there, the two sides will explore the feasibility of establishing a market in which private sector entities might purchase options to acquire R.F. GHG emission allowances. The two sides will continue to consult closely under the so-called "Umbrella Group" and in the formal multilateral negotiation process.
II. Stratospheric Ozone Depletion
Russia and the international community have made substantial progress over the past year in reducing the threat posed by stratospheric ozone depletion. On the Russian side, SCEP has obtained customs exemptions for technology funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) to support phase-out of consumption of ozone-depleting substances (ODS) in one enterprise. It is hoped that this will provide a useful precedent for other GEF assistance in eliminating ODS consumption in Russia, including a shift to non-ozone depleting fire extinguishers in the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg.
A major step toward renewed Russian compliance with the Montreal Protocol occurred last October when nine country-donors confirmed their intention to participate in a $27 million Special Initiative for ODS production closure in Russia to be managed by the World Bank. The U.S. side intends to make a substantial portion of its contribution to this effort (a total of $6 million) available to the Bank this fiscal year. It is anticipated that another sizeable contribution will be forthcoming this year from the Global Environment Facility, and that Russia's entire ODS production capacity will be eliminated by the end of 2000. A U.S. expert will participate in the "technical review group" that will evaluate closure plans, phase-out monitoring strategies, and post-closure verification reports from each of the seven participating enterprises.
III. Environmental Problems in the Arctic
The Committee welcomes the continued growth of bilateral cooperation to identify and address urgent environmental problems in Arctic regions. Much of this work is focused on the processing and/or storage of radioactive waste from both civilian and military/naval activities. Particularly noteworthy in this connection have been the effort to expand and upgrade existing capability in Murmansk to treat low-level liquid radioactive waste and projects under the Arctic Military Environmental Cooperation (AMEC). The latter includes work to develop safe storage casks for spent nuclear fuel from decommissioned submarines. The Committee is pleased to acknowledge the continued important role played by the Government of Norway in both of these programs.
It is anticipated that, in the current year, internationally funded work to expand Russia's capacity to treat LRW in both the Barents/Arctic and North Pacific Oceans will be completed. Once the respective technical systems in both regions have been fully tested and certified, the Russian side intends to seek GOR approval of formal adherence to the 1993 London Convention amendments banning all ocean disposal of radioactive waste.
The Committee welcomes increased international attention being paid to the problem of hazardous non-radioactive pollution in the Arctic. U.S. and Russian experts are involved in a project under the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program (AMAP) to identify and eliminate sources of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) contamination. During its two-year chairmanship of the Arctic Council, the U.S. Government hopes to extend such cooperation to include contamination from mercury.
At the same time, various tasks related to environmental quality in the Arctic remain to be done. In the military sector, rehabilitation of former bases located in the Arctic remains largely outside the range of interests pursued under AMEC. In the civilian sector, replacement of largely expended radionuclide thermoelectric generators (RTGs) as power sources for navigational beacons along the north coast of the Kola Peninsula is a task of increasing urgency. Still other tasks (e.g., environmental impact of expended rocket stages and rocket fuel) are being partially addressed by other elements of the U.S.-Russian Joint Commission, but could benefit from additional effort under the Environment Committee.
IV. Nature Conservation
The annual Working Group meeting of U.S. and Russian experts in this area took place in Seattle February 23-25, 1999. The Committee welcomes the continued broad and vigorous cooperation being implemented by the Working Group.
The Committee looks forward to conclusion of a U.S.-Russian Agreement on the Conservation and Management of the Alaska-Chukotka Polar Bear Population, pending approval by the Russian Government of provisions for limited subsistence harvest by Native peoples in the Arctic. The two sides expressed the hope that internal reviews in both countries would be concluded in the shortest possible time, enabling the Agreement to be signed by May 1999.
The Program of Small Grants to Protected Areas in the Russian Federation, funded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, completed its Third Call for Proposals on March 15, 1999. At least 25 grants of up to $5,000 each will be awarded to support the work of Russian zapovedniks and national parks. The Russian side fully endorses this initiative while reaffirming its interest in the organization of additional bilateral workshops on conservation education and technical exchanges of reserve/refuge staff from both countries. The Russian side also invites more active involvement by of the U.S. National Park Service in bilateral cooperation in this area.
The two sides are working closely to accommodate recent restrictions on trade in sturgeon, their parts and products, under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). The Committee notes that R.F. management authority for issuance of permits for export of sturgeon products has shifted from SCEP to the Ministry of Agriculture.
A topic of growing interest and importance is sustainable development of offshore energy resources and related impacts on coastal ecosystems, particularly in the Okhotsk Sea. For two years, international business consortia engaged in exploring oil and gas resources near Sakhalin Island have financed voluntarily a special monitoring program targeted at the Okhotsk gray whale. These whales number only about 100 individuals and are recognized as one of the world's most endangered whale populations. A complex situation has arisen wherein the consortia and the principal Russian and U.S. investigators no longer agree on the kinds of research tasks that need to be implemented. In the opinion of some researchers, adequate financing for continued monitoring of gray whales in the Sakhalin region is in doubt. The Committee urges all parties engaged in this effort to resolve their differences in time for field studies of the gray whales to be resumed this summer, when oil production is expected to begin from a platform off the northeastern coast of Sakhalin.
On a related point, the Committee endorses plans for a joint workshop to explore technical aspects of monitoring environmental impacts from offshore fossil energy development and associated questions of public information and ecological risk communication. This workshop is tentatively planned to take place in June 1999 in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.
V. Environmental Technical Assistance
In 1997-98, the principal focus of U.S. technical assistance to Russia in the environmental realm has been USAID's "Replication of Lessons Learned" (ROLL) Project and forestry activities aimed at combating global climate change. The ROLL Project is managed by a U.S. non-governmental organization, the Institute for Sustainable Communities (ISC), and coordinated by a 27-member Coordinating Council headed by the Chairman of SCEP. To date, ROLL has awarded 92 grants totaling over $3 million to recipients in 61 Subjects of the R.F. To engage nation-wide participation in the project, six regional ROLL centers have been established throughout Russia. Transparency remains a key feature of the proposal review process. In addition to competitive grants, a portion of ROLL resources were provided in the form of targeted grants to address environmental priorities of the U.S.-Russian Joint Commission (e.g., global climate change in the forestry area, lead contamination from stationary sources). In view of its continuing success, the ROLL Program will receive an additional $3 million from USAID in the current fiscal year.
The Committee noted that approximately $90 million in technical assistance has been provided by the U.S. Government in the environmental area over the past six years. This sum does not include equipment provided under the Commodity Import Program (some $30 million in material to 20 Russian cities). Future USAID-funded technical assistance on environmental problems will be concentrated in the ROLL Project, additional climate change activities focused on carbon sequestration, and other economic development programs. Limited technical assistance funds for environmental cooperation with Russia are also available to EPA.
VI. Environmental Finance
National mechanisms and approaches to increase investment in the environmental sector constitute a topic of considerable promise within the work of the Committee. Each side can make a useful contribution to this discussion: Russia's experience since 1992 with pollution charges and the network of "eco-funds", vis-a-vis the extensive use of large revolving funds and municipal/state bonds in the U.S. over the past 15-20 years. This topic is closely related to overall credit-worthiness of cities and Subjects of the R.F., federal tax and budget policies, tariffs for public municipal services, and other economic/financial issues that are especially difficult in the current economic conditions facing Russia. Environmental investment should be increased not only in the public/municipal sector, but also among industrial enterprises and other private sector entities.
The Committee believes that environmental finance is a topic that merits concerted attention in the near- and medium-term. Cooperation in this area could strengthen management of the "eco-funds" and improve prospects for environmental project financing in Russia. Such discussions could also bear on bilateral trading of GHG emissions and "joint implementation" under the U.N. Climate Convention. Accordingly, the two sides plan to convene a workshop on environmental financing within the next several months. As this cooperation develops, it is hoped that experts from State/Subject and city administrations will play an active role. The Committee also looks forward to close cooperation with other components of the Joint Commission, notably the Capital Markets Forum.
VII. Mobile-Source Pollution
The Committee recognized that pollution from mobile (transportation) sources is increasingly a problem for public health and economic development in Russia's major urban centers. Mobile sources now account for 50% or more of the air pollution in many cities, and represent over 90% of the air pollution loading in the city of Moscow.
The Committee commends the initiative on mobile-source air pollution being developed by U.S. EPA in conjunction with the World Bank's proposed transportation loan to the city of Moscow. This effort has been furthered by the long-standing ban in Moscow city of production and sale of leaded gasoline. It is hoped that, with continued U.S. support, the World Bank loan will include a substantial amount for control of mobile-source air pollution, and that the joint work in Moscow will serve as a model for other Russian cities.
VIII. Persistent Bioaccumulative Toxics (Persistent Organics and Heavy Metals)
Increasing attention being devoted by the international community to this category of hazardous contaminants should be paralleled by expanded U.S.-Russian cooperation. During the Soviet period, large sectors of industrial production (chemical weapons, agrochemicals, pulp and paper) generated pollution from chlororganic compounds. Much of this legacy remains, in the form of contaminated soil and groundwater, impacts on the human food chain, and in some cases, direct effects on public health. In the U.S., much current effort is being targeted on understanding the environmental and health threats arising from mercury contamination, while earlier programs to address risk from dioxin and chlororganic pesticides remain active. And further progress to eliminate lead pollution remains an international priority in such fora as the OECD and G-8.
The Committee discussed several directions such cooperation might take. A priority for the Russian side is environmentally sound reprofiling ("ecologization") of three large pulp and paper plants in northwestern Russia. All three (Svetogorsk, Sokolsk, and Arkhangelsk) have begun this process on the basis of financing from domestic or international sources, but could benefit substantially from complementary assistance under the Committee's auspices. The Russian side also supports cooperative effort to eliminate PCBs in transformer oil as a follow-on to the current AMAP project on PCB contamination in the Arctic (see above).
Environmental risk from mercury offers especially timely prospects as a focus for U.S.-Russian cooperation. The Russian side favors an approach similar to that being implemented in cooperation on lead risk reduction: a comprehensive, national report identifying the scope of the problem followed, if warranted, by a possible federal targeted program to attack sources of the contamination. The U.S. side is interested in monitoring long-range transport of mercury in the Russian Arctic and in learning more about mercury contamination associated with chlor-alkali production in the Angara River basin and/or northwestern Russia. The Committee is hopeful that practical cooperation along one or more of these lines can begin this year.
The Committee continues to assign great importance to the ongoing cooperative effort to prepare a draft federal targeted program for lead risk reduction in Russia, as agreed at the March 1998 Joint Commission meeting. It is expected that the draft program will be completed and ready for Russian Government review in July. Meanwhile, further working-level contacts between U.S. and Russian experts on this task is warranted, to include appropriate private sector and NGO personnel. The Committee welcomed successful implementation of a targeted ROLL grant to support a pilot effort to reduce lead pollution at a smelter in Krasnouralsk.
IX. Other Issues
The Committee welcomed initiation of a new regional program of cooperation, the "Baltic Sea-Great Lakes Partnership," within the framework of the U.S. side's "Northern European Initiative." This program will include two principal forms of cooperation: fellowships for specialists from the Baltic region to work and study in the U.S. or Canada; and river basin management projects targeted on internationally shared water bodies in either the Baltic or Great Lakes regions. It is expected that environmental authorities and experts from Kaliningrad oblast and other regions of northwestern Russia will be actively involved in this program.
Progress continues, albeit slowly, toward establishing an office of the "New Regional Environmental Center" (New REC) in Russia. Despite certain difficulties over the past year, both SCEP and many Russian NGOs look forward to early establishment and operation of the New REC in Russia. Approval by the Government of Russia is anticipated within the next month or two; the U.S. side expects to be able to formalize its participation in the New REC this year. The European Union through TACIS continues to be the principal sponsor for this initiative.
The Committee endorses the OECD's Environmental Performance Review of the Russian Federation, which is expected to be completed later this year. It was noted that recent changes in Russian legislation will be brought to the attention of OECD staff so that the Review when it is published can be as current as possible.
* * * * *
The U.S. side expresses its gratitude for the in-depth discussions and cordial hospitality displayed by the Russian side during this meeting.
Signed in Washington, DC, March 24, 1999, in English and Russian versions of equal authenticity.
/s/ Peter D. Robertson
For the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
/s/ V.I. Danilov-Danilyan
For the R.F. State Committee for Environmental Protection
