MOSCOW, Sept. 28 (UPI) -- Signing the Kyoto Protocol on global warming would prevent Russia doubling its gross domestic product, a top Kremlin adviser said Monday.
Russia plans to double its GDP in the next decade, but the goal could not be achieved if the nation signed and implemented the Kyoto Protocol, Andrei Illarionov, an economic adviser to President Vladimir Putin, told a Moscow investment conference, the Interfax news agency said.
"The scenario for doubling GDP implies an annual increase of 7.2 percent over 10 years. At that rate of growth the increase in carbon dioxode emissions could be significant," Illarionov told the conference, entitled "Russia; Investment in an Economy of Growth."
Economy Minister German Gref, however, signed a letter to the government voicing his approval of the treaty, the Moscow News reported Monday.
The Kyoto Protocol, calling for a cap on greenhouse gas emissions to reduce the effects of global warming, can only be ratified if signed by the developed nations that produce half of the world's emissions.
Russia, with 17 percent of total emissions, can make or break the treaty, since the United States pulled out of the pact in 2001 saying it was harming the country's industry.
