The Ministry of Natural Resources will oblige Russian companies to report the amount of greenhouse gas emissions 
Companies will be required to report the amount of greenhouse gas emissions. The corresponding project was prepared by the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia, Rossiyskaya Gazeta reports.
The law approves the methodology for calculating the amount of greenhouse gas emissions. The new rules will affect all enterprises, but from January 1, 2023, only companies that emit more than 150 thousand tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere will have to report. By 2025, the requirements will apply to organizations responsible for the emissions of more than 50 thousand tons of greenhouse gases. Reducing CO2 emissions is one of the goals needed to save the planet.
The data will be transferred to Roshydromet, which will compile a national inventory of emissions and removals. The document will be presented to the UN in the framework of the next convention on climate change. At the same time, Alexei Kokorin, head of the Climate and Energy Program of WWF Russia, believes that the reports submitted by the companies may turn out to be distorted. “If the plant has different workshops separated into independent legal entities, then it turns out that each of them will be taken into account separately and an enterprise that actually emits a large amount of gases will not be able to submit a report,” the expert said.
Kokorin recalled that the information from the inventory will be verified by international UN experts, therefore, when compiling it, it is necessary to take into account not only company reports, but also other data, for example, on fuel production. This method of collecting information will make it possible to include military plants in the cadastre, while not violating the laws on state secrets. The Ministry of Natural Resources confirmed that such information will indeed undergo international verification, but there will be enough open data for the audit.
More and more states and companies are taking on obligations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced that the country will reach carbon neutrality by 2060. In November, the government presented a strategy to achieve this ambitious goal.