E.On Russia has won approval for two further joint implementation projects under the Kyoto Protocol.
The Economic Development Ministry gave the go-ahead for projects at the Surgutskaya power station in the Khanty-Mansiisk autonomous district and the Yaivinskaya station in the Moscow region in a Dec. 27 decree, but it only became public on Monday, Interfax reported.
The company estimates that the combined-cycle gas turbines it has installed at the two stations could slash greenhouse gas emissions by 3.3 million tons in 2012.
German-controlled E.On Russia, formerly OGK-4, has previously estimated the emissions savings of its Russian projects at 4.3 million tons.
It won approval for its first Russian joint implementation project, the installation of a 400-megawatt combined-cycle turbine at the Shaturskaya power station, in 2010. Emissions reduction units produced under that project were transferred to customers in December.
Joint implementation projects allow businesses to invest in carbon-cutting projects in Kyoto signatory countries, and in return receive carbon credits called Emission Reduction Units, which can be used toward emissions targets or sold for profit on an international market.
But businesses are under pressure to realize a profit from such projects in the next 12 months after Russia refused to take on further commitments after the end of the first implementation period of Kyoto in December 2012.
Business leaders have sharply criticized the move, and the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, a trade association, has said it will try to reverse the decision.
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