“We also see that the human capital, at 46 percent, comprises the largest share of wealth in Russia, with the natural capital share, standing at 20 percent. As a rough approximation, we estimate that Russia's forests provide annual absorption of about 640 million tons of CO2 equivalent.”

“Well-designed carbon pricing instruments can be a transformative part of the climate action toolkit. Over half of countries worldwide are thinking about how carbon pricing can help them meet their climate targets”, said Laura Tuck, Vice President of Sustainable Development, World Bank.

Under this option, EU importers of steel, aluminum and other products with high carbon footprints would have to buy carbon allowances, as EU producers do under the EU Emissions Trading System.

A new report by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology examined various scenarios for the decarbonization of the nation’s electricity sector. The MIT researcher’s simulations showed that availability of nuclear powered generation would help reduce the needed carbon price by up to 67 percent (to less than $40 per ton) in meeting a 90-percent reduction target (below 2005 levels) by 2050.

Renewable energy sources alone are not capable of fully decarbonising the economy, but they can complement nuclear energy in achieving this goal. The nuclear industry, led by World Nuclear Association, has set the Harmony goal for nuclear energy to provide 25% of global electricity by 2050. This will require trebling nuclear generation from its present level.

POWERMAG - A new study from an economic research group shows that U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) rose about 3.4% last year, including a 1.9% rise in emissions from power generation.