The Leningrad region plans to adopt a regional low-carbon development strategy in 2022.
Dmitry Yalov, the head of the economic block of the Leningrad Region, spoke about this at the Vedomosti online conference on the topic “ESG - business transformation: trend, investment, development”. He focused on the topic of decarbonization.
As Dmitry Yalov noted, steps are already being taken in the region to reduce the carbon footprint. In general, they can be divided into two groups - those that can be implemented quickly, and those that require serious reforms and investments.
Projects have been launched to improve energy efficiency and modernize housing and communal services and heat supply systems. Also, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transport, the region entered a pilot project and, with the participation of federal funding, will launch 53 fast charging stations for electric vehicles in 2022.
It is also planned to evaluate large investment projects, primarily infrastructure ones, for their carbon footprint. Another important step is the implementation of educational and educational projects on decarbonization. Each inhabitant of the region should be provided with scientifically based information about the problems associated with global warming and approaches to reduce CO2 emissions.
More complex and costly solutions include:
– accounting and subsequent quotas for CO2 emissions by industrial enterprises,
— creation of wind-generating capacities,
– maximum processing of production and consumption waste and their reuse,
— implementation of projects for the creation of "carbon landfills" and projects for the absorption of CO2 through forests,
— stimulating projects to capture CO2 and transport it to regions where there are geological conditions for this.
It should be noted that in 2021 the Leningrad Region took first place in the ESG ranking of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, prepared by the RAEX rating agency. Over the year, the region has risen from eighth to first place.
