MOSCOW, April 1 (UPI) -- The Russian government said it was considering legislation that would expand limitations on the use of substances said to deplete the ozone layer.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev told an energy conference last year in Brazil that Russia was working voluntarily to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent of 1990 levels by 2020.
The government introduced a measure that would regulate production availability and use of chemicals that could deplete the ozone layer, state-owned news agency RIA Novosti reports.
"If passed, the draft law would also expand regulations on the disposal of toxic substances that cause levels of stratospheric ozone to fall," the report said.
Fluctuations in the ozone layer are said to be in part responsible for increased temperature trends. The Russian news agency notes that some of the populations in the northern arctic regions of the country are at risk because of weather changes linked to the ozone layer.
Russia last year said it wasn't making greenhouse gas emission decisions for 2013 based on the Kyoto Protocol.
