A few years ago it was believed that the era of oil and gas would end somewhere in the middle of this century, and therefore Russia has time to replace this main source of income with something. A little later, the coveted deadline was shifted to 2035. However, predictions are made so as not to come true: Western countries will refuse Russian oil even earlier, literally before our eyes. Finanz.ru writes about this, reporting on the reaction to this frightening trend on the part of the ex-Prime Minister of Russia, now the Deputy Head of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev.
He sounded the alarm, confident that in connection with the plans of the European Union for the transition to climate-neutral energy will entail "very serious consequences" for the Russian economy and result in losses that "cannot be calculated".
As you know, from 2025 the European Union wants to introduce the so-called carbon tax: suppliers of goods to the European market, which burn a lot of fossil fuels in the process of their production, will pay about 30 euros for each ton of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere. This paragraph is going to be included in the new European climate law as early as 2021, in order to keep the increase in the global average temperature within 1.5-2 degrees under the Paris climate agreement.
As a result, there will be a "significant reduction" in Russian commodity exports to Europe - oil, coal and metals, Medvedev assures, since their extraction emits large amounts of CO - twice as much, for example, as oil extraction in Saudi Arabia.
Medvedev believes that “in essence, this is such latent protectionism, albeit under a very plausible pretext, which will hinder the access of our goods to the European Union market. (...) According to the Academy of Sciences, the financial losses of domestic exporters will amount to billions of euros ... "That is," we are talking about very significant shortfalls in income ", and" a similar mechanism, if introduced without any restrictions or comments, will be contrary to the norms of existing international agreements, including the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. "
That is why our country, according to Medvedev, if the tax is introduced, must develop measures of internal and external response:
“We need to think about how to support the most vulnerable enterprises and industries if such decisions come into force. We need to negotiate here both in a bilateral format and with the European Union, and, of course, at specialized international platforms, including the WTO, the bodies that deal with climate change and the relevant conventions”.
In 2019, Russia received $ 419 billion in export revenues, of which 60% came from three goods: crude oil, petroleum products and natural gas, with half of this amount coming from Europe. Now the European Union is striving to completely eliminate fossil fuels. European Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson said:
"The EU's goal is to be climate neutral by 2050 and all suppliers must keep this in mind..."
This information is commented on by network analyst Andrei Nalgin, who writes bluntly: “What until recently seemed like an empty threat or groundless rumors, is now rapidly acquiring features of a close reality. Threatening loved one!
Now we have a far from cloudless future. The trouble is that the possibilities of the Russian budget in this case are very limited, because revenues from the non-resource economy are small in comparison with oil. In addition, an embargo may also be imposed on the export of Russian weapons.
In general, the raw freebie seems to end even earlier than pessimists assumed. Moreover, there are enough suppliers on the market who are ready to replace non-kosher oil from Russia for the EU. Are you ready for a sharp depletion of the flow of petrodollars and resource rent? Have you come up with your own personal action plan for this case?"