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Denmark becomes first country to buy Russian Kyoto quota

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Moscow, June 28 (RIA Novosti) - The Danish government and Russia's electricity giant, Unified Energy Systems, have struck a deal on the sale of gas emission allowances under the Kyoto protocol, UES spokespeople report.

Two UES subsidiaries - Orenburgenergo and Khabarovskenergo - signed the deal Tuesday with the Danish Environmental Protection Agency, which is the authorized body of Denmark's government for climate change issues.

The agency will invest 9 million euros in the modernization of the Amur electric power plant, in Russia's Far Eastern Khabarovsk region, and 11 million euros in the effort to upgrade the Mednogorsk facility, in the Orenburg region, which borders on Kazakhstan. The aim is to lower their CO2 emissions by a million metric tons and 210,000 tons, respectively. UES will then transfer an equivalent amount of Assigned Amount Units (AAUs) to the buyer, the Danish government.

The Kyoto protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change entered into force on February 16, 2005. It was signed in 1997, at an international summit held under the auspices of the UN in the Japanese city of Kyoto. The summit participants committed themselves to 5.2% cuts on CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2012, with the 1990 emissions figures taken as the basis.

Russia accounts for 17.4% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, so it was crucial if the document were to come into force. A ratification bill passed through the State Duma, or the lower chamber of parliament, on October 22, 2004, and was approved by the Federation Council, the upper chamber, on October 27. President Vladimir Putin signed the bill into law on November 5 of the same year.

Previously, the Kyoto protocol had been ratified by 124 states, whose cumulative share in the world's greenhouse gas emissions was 44.2%. China, India, and the United States refused to ratify the document.

Countries that are party to the Kyoto Protocol receive a five-year allocation of Assigned Amounts Units, with each AAU reflecting the right to emit one metric ton of CO2 equivalent. To comply with their greenhouse emission reduction obligations, they can buy AAUs from other parties.

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