Project Outline

General Information

• Project Duration: 1 September 2008-31 December 2010.
• Contracting Authority: The European Community, represented by the European Commission in the Russian Federation: http://www.delrus.ec.europa.eu/en/index.htm
• Project Partner: Ministry of Economic Development, Russian Federation: http://www.economy.gov.ru/wps/wcm/connect/economylib/mert/welcome_eng/pressservice/
• Russia's Regions Involved in the Project: Sverdlovsk, Rostov and Tver regions.

Objectives and Results

• Project Overall Objective: To support regional policies aimed at reducing the emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs).
  
  
• Project Purpose: To assist regional administrations to set targets aimed at reducing emissions of GHGs and improve the efficiency of energy use in public utilities, buildings, and medium-sized enterprises.
  
  
• Project Results:
  
  1) Regional energy balances in three regions, including an evaluation of efficiency and economic analysis of energy generation, transformation, and end-use assets.
  2) GHG-inventory (audit) in three regions, including development of relative GHG-targets for five-year period and longer term.
  3) Increased institutional capacity on energy efficiency (EE) and GHG-reduction policies.
  4) Draft regional GHG-policy recommendations and supporting documents.
  5) Project Design Documents prepared for Joint Implementation (JI) projects in five companies in each region.
  6) The project outputs and results are disseminated in the three regions.

Project Implementation

This Project includes two principle components:

1) Comprehensive support of regional policies in the areas of energy efficiency and GHG mitigation.

2) Identification, preparation, and facilitation of investment projects in the energy-efficiency area that are eligible for Joint Implementation under the Kyoto Protocol. Special emphasis will be placed on removing and/or lowering the barriers to expansion of energy-efficiency technologies, including investment, market access, and technological barriers.

While the project focus is on regions, it still needs to seriously consider existing and evolving federal policies and instruments. For instance, a set of measures (e.g., new legislation and changes to existing legislation) under preparation by the Russian Government to stimulate the saving of energy resources should be considered a basis for similar regional initiatives. We will work with the Project Partner (the Ministry of Economic Development) and regional authorities to adapt the project implementation plan to the evolving federal-regional partnership to reduce the energy intensity of the GDP and introduce environmentally safe technologies as stipulated in the Presidential Decree of June 4, 2008.

In the course of the project, a range of workshops and seminars will be organized where the results of the activities will be discussed by EU and Russian experts, high-level officials, and other stakeholders, such as enterprises, commercial banks, and international financing institutions.

This project is funded by the European Union