Valentina Matvienko Told About IPA CIS Best Practices in Developing Model Environmental Laws

Chairperson of the IPA CIS Council, Speaker of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Valentina Matvienko spoke at the thematic session of the European Conference of the Presidents of Parliament held under the auspices of the PACE, noting the important role of the parliaments in developing green agenda and the law-making in ecological and climate areas.

The Speaker of the upper chamber mentioned that for the past 30 years the environmental legislation in Russia had been completely reformed. The Federation Council adopted a number of decisions initiated by senators, including the prohibition of drift-net fishing, strengthening of control over deforestation and its reproduction. Improving the quality of drinking water and atmospheric air, reforming the waste management system, energy efficiency, development of promising energy sources, including hydrogen, and widespread use of renewable energy sources are also high on the agenda of the parliaments.

Valentina Matvienko also stressed that Russia fully complies with its obligations under the Paris Climate Agreement adding that the work on a new law that would establish the financial liability of enterprise owners for the damage to the environment, as well as give a targeted character to environmental payments to the budget was underway.

The Chairperson of the IPA CIS Council told the European parliamentarians about the best practices of developing model environmental legislation within the IPA CIS. She recalled that the environmental agenda took one of the central places at the Third Eurasian Women’s Forum.