Climate Legislation of the Russian Federation: Opportunities and Potential in the Conditions of Energy Transition

Abstract

The paper is devoted to identifying current trends and assessing the current prospects for the development of Russian climate legislation in the context of implementation of the European Green Deal that provides for refusing the use of minerals and transiting to renewable energy sources by 2050. Based on the results of a comprehensive analysis of national regulatory legal acts, including documents of state strategic planning of the first goal-setting level on the climate agenda, primarily the Climate Doctrine of the Russian Federation, the National Security Strategy of the Russian Federation, and the Strategy of Socio-Economic Development of Russia with a low level greenhouse gas emissions until 2050, the authors substantiate the conclusion according to which the Russian Federation has all the possibilities for a relatively stable and safe energy transition. The new Federal Law of 02.07.2021 No. 296-FZ «On Limiting Greenhouse Gas Emissions» constitutes a turning point in climate legislation that completely changed approaches to balancing environmental and economic interests. The adoption of the Law opens up opportunities for an innovative ecological and economic development, facilitates the synthesis of economic and environmental benefits gained from the carbon units’ circulation, and launches a complex process of gradual rejection of the commodity trend. However, to what extent this Law will be adapted and applicable to the already existing environmental legislation and to what extent the environmental legislation is ready to radical changes concerning principles and approaches to the regulation of relevant legal relations is a priority task that deserves the broadest attention.