Russian officials say the country produce 3.5 times less greenhouse emissions than other countries

If on average worldwide agriculture accounts for 20% of greenhouse gas emissions, in Russia it’s about 6%. So Russian products can already be positioned as climate-optimized today. This was announced at the open conference “The Role of Climate Regulation in the Competitiveness of Russian Agro-Industrial Products”, organized by the Federal Center “Agroexport” and the KEPT company with the support of the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture Sergei Levin noted that an increase in average annual temperatures leads to an increase in the duration of the growing season, creating the possibility of developing northern territories. In this regard, Russia can increase its production base and increase its export potential. At the same time, climate issues must be taken into account when creating development strategies by both individual companies and the industry as a whole. To date, 45 countries have developed national adaptation plans for agriculture. The formation of such a regulatory framework will have an impact on the terms of trade in food in both the medium and long term.

The head of Agroexport, Dmitry Krasnov, noted that in key foreign markets, consumers are actively involved in the topic of global warming. Thus, 64% of consumers in the Middle East and 63% in the Asia-Pacific region consider climate change to be an extreme problem. Foreign business is also paying close attention to the climate agenda: 64% of the largest companies in the Asia-Pacific region have an ESG strategy, and more than 70% of companies in the region have defined requirements regarding the ESG practices of suppliers.

ESG practices are already being applied by Russian exporters. General Director of the National Alliance for Sustainable Development Andrei Sharonov spoke about the inclusion of global and Russian companies in the “green” transformation. The alliance was created in January 2022 and unites leading domestic manufacturers, including from the agricultural industry. Andrei Sharonov expressed hope that the number of members of the alliance from the agro-industrial complex will increase.