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	03.12.06 Victoria Panova G8 research group, University of Toronto, Director for Russia
	03.12.06 Mona Bricke German NGO Forum Environment and Development
	03.12.06 Nigel Martin Montreal International Rorum (FIM)
	02.12.06 John Kirton Head of G8 Research Group, University of Toronto
	02.12.06 Regina Gunter Head of the WWF Germany

News

Putin says energy production must not harm environment

Interfax, Mar 16
BBC Monitoring Former Soviet Union
Text of report by Russian news agency Interfax
Moscow, 16 March: Russian President Vladimir Putin has drawn the attention of G8 energy ministers to “the need to obtain energy from untraditional hydrocarbon sources in an environmentally safe way”.
“Experts think that by 2030 up to 80 per cent of the global demand for energy will be met by hydrocarbons,” Putin said at a meeting with the ministers in the Kremlin today.
Putin said that he wasn’t just talking about raising the efficiency of hydrocarbon extraction and transport, but about obtaining energy from untraditional hydrocarbon sources in an environmentally safe way.
“To do this we need to make the hydrocarbon energy sector efficient, innovative and environmentally responsible,” Putin stressed.
Putin thinks that increasing the share of refined hydrocarbon products in the international energy market is a promising area. “This may give additional flexibility and, therefore, stability to the global energy system,” he said.
Putin said that in addition to this, energy production from alternative and renewable sources needs to be developed, “above all using new technologies”.
“However, our task is not just to ensure adequate production of energy. Measures to improve the structure of ‘demand’ are just as important,” Putin said.
Putin believes that “raising energy efficiency will reduce the risk of a gulf emerging between energy supply and demand”.
He also stressed that the environment is an important aspect of energy security. “We all know that an extensive, consumerist approach to the environment is a dead-end,” Putin said.
Source: Interfax news agency, Moscow, in Russian 1427 gmt 16 Mar 06

Expert opinion

	02.12.06 Halter Marek Le College de France
	02.12.06 Olivier Giscard d’Estaing COPAM, France
	02.12.06 Mika Ohbayashi Institute for Sustainable Energy Poliсy
	02.12.06 Bill Pace World Federalist Movement - Institute for Global Policy
	01.12.06 Peter I. Hajnal Toronto University, G8 Research Group