Greenhouse gases are compounds that accumulate in the atmosphere and contribute to global climate change. They are formed as a result of human industrial and economic activity including, for example, the burning of fossil fuels, manufacturing processes, agriculture and the generation of waste. The following substances are considered to be greenhouse gases:

• Carbon dioxide (carbonic acid gas)
• Methane
• Nitrous oxide
• Nitrogen trifluoride
• Sulphur hexafluoride
• Perfluorocarbons
• Гидрофторуглероды

For convenience, the various greenhouse gases are all expressed in terms of their CO2 equivalent.

A climate project is a set of measures intended to reduce (or prevent) greenhouse gas emissions or to increase the absorption of greenhouse gases. In order to be considered “climate protecting”, a project must meet the following criteria:

• It must in no way contravene the federal and/or regional legislation of the location in which it is to be implemented, and must be carried out in accordance with the relevant national standards adopted for the purposes of limiting greenhouse gas emissions;
• It must not lead to any increase in local greenhouse gas emissions (or any decrease in local absorption levels) external to the project;
• It must be additional to any measures already provisioned in the legislation of the Russian Federation and adopted prior to the start of project implementation;
• It must not be the consequence of a reduction in production;
• During the period of implementation of the project, any reduction in (or prevention of) greenhouse gas emissions and/or any increase in greenhouse gas absorption must not have been brought about by external factors unrelated to the project.
• Perfluorocarbons
• Hydrofluorocarbons

Typical climate projects include low-carbon energy production, resource conservation, efficient waste management, sustainable agriculture and reforestation.

A climate project can only be entered onto the carbon units registry prior to its implementation.

In order to enter a climate project onto the carbon units registry, it will be necessary to:

1) Conclude an agreement with the administrator of the carbon units registry from a personal account in the Common Public Services Portal (hereinafter referred to as “CPSP”).

2) Complete the climate project validation procedures.

3) Use a personal CPSP account to submit a climate project registration application, accompanied by the following:

a) a document confirming the authority of either the initiator of the climate project, or the person making the climate project registration application;
b) a positive endorsement of the project made by an accredited individual engaged for the purposes of validating it.

Prior to submission, climate project registration applications, together with their accompanying documentation, must be furnished with the enhanced qualified electronic signature of either the initiator of the project or the person making the climate project registration application.

Registration applications must include all the information requested in Clause 17 of the “Regulations for the Creation and Maintenance of the Carbon Units Registry, and for the Conducting of Transactions Therein” (approved by Decree N 790 of the Government of the Russian Federation on 30th April 2022).

4) Make payment for the registration application.

Prior to the release of any carbon units into circulation, it is necessary to:

1) Enter the climate project onto the carbon units registry.

2) Use a personal CPSP account to submit an application for the release into circulation of carbon units, accompanied by the following:

a) a document confirming the authority of either the initiator of the climate project, or the person making the carbon unit release application;

b) a climate project verification report

Prior to submission, carbon unit release applications, together with their attached documentation, must be furnished with an enhanced qualified electronic signature.

3) After having received notification of the release of carbon units into circulation, submit an order crediting carbon units to the personal account of the initiator of the climate project.

4) Make payment for the carbon unit release application.

Validation is the process of establishing that a climate project meets common criteria.

The process, which must be carried out by an individual authorised by the Federal Accreditation Service “Rosakkreditatsia”, ends with the issuing of a favourable conclusion on the compliance of the project with the classification criteria for climate projects implemented by legal entities, individual entrepreneurs and private individuals provisioned in Article 9 (Part 2) of the Federal Law “On Limiting Greenhouse Gas Emissions”. The favourable conclusion – the “validation report” – is a prerequisite for the entry of a climate project onto the carbon units registry.

Verification, on the other hand, is the process of evaluating and confirming the correctness of the carbon unit calculations. The verification process – also carried out by an individual authorised by “Rosakkreditatsia” – ends with the issuing of a report (the “verification report”) on the results obtained during implementation of the climate project, as provisioned in Article 9 (Part 5) of the Federal Law “On Limiting Greenhouse Gas Emissions”, together with the favourable conclusion of the authorised individual in respect of the results obtained during project implementation.

The verification report must be submitted together with the carbon unit release application.

• Install a Mozilla Firefox browser
• Work through the process
• If the IFC plug-in (the document-signing plug-in) can still not be found, re-install following the instructions in the browser window
• Restart your computer
• Work through the process again (optional)
• If the problem persists, install the plug-in manually using the link
• Restart your computer
• Work through the process again

• Decree No. 790 of the Government of the Russian Federation of 30th April 2022, “On Approval of the Regulations for the Creation and Maintenance of the Carbon Units Registry, and for the Conducting of Transactions Therein”
• Decree No. 905 of 20th May 2022 “On Approval of the Standard Agreement for the Provision of Services by the Administrator for the Conducting of Transactions on the Carbon Units Registry”,

Account statements, bills and tax invoices relating to services provided by the administrator of the carbon units registry and sent to the transaction participants using the CPSP “Common Public Services Portal”, must be furnished with the enhanced qualified electronic signature of a person appointed by the administrator of the carbon units registry.

The government’s own services can be used to verify the authenticity of an electronic signature. In order to do so:

• Upload the electronic document containing the signature to be verified
• Upload a file containing a detached electronic signature in .sig format
• Click on the button marked “Verify”

Please review the delegation process in the attached file: PDF

In accordance with paragraph 38 of the Order of the Government of the Russian Federation dated 30.04.2022 N 790 "On Approval of the Rules for Compiling and Maintaining a Carbon Units Registry and Conducting Transactions with Carbon Units in the Carbon Units Registry", the account in the Registry is opened by the Registry Administrator on the basis of the Agreement and within the terms and conditions established therein.

Paragraph V "Conclusion and Termination of the Contract, Term of the Contract" of the Model Agreement approved by the Government of the Russian Federation dated 20.05.2022 N 905 "On Approval of the Model Form of Agreement for Registry Administrator’s Services on Conducting Transactions in the Carbon Units Registry" establishes that in order to enter into the Contract, the Participant shall submit to the Registry Administrator an application for entering into the Contract in the form of an electronic document signed with an enhanced qualified electronic signature (hereinafter - EQES) using the unified portal of state and municipal services (hereinafter – Unified portal).

By signing the application through the Unified portal using the EQES, the Client enters into the proposed Agreement, the terms and conditions of which are established by the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated 20.05.2022 N 905 " On Approval of the Model Form of Agreement for Registry Administrator’s Services on Conducting Transactions in the Carbon Units Registry.

Upon receipt of the application, the Registry Administrator shall open an account and send the Applicant a notice on conclusion of the Agreement on provision of services by the Registry Administrator for carrying out operations in the Carbon Units Registry, as well as accounting documents.

In accordance with the Article 14 of the Model Agreement, the contractual relations shall be established as of the date specified in the Notice on the conclusion of the Agreement.

In addition, at the request of the Client, the Registry Administrator may send duplicates of accounting documents:

The Article 24 of the Model Agreement - Duplicate accounting records signed with an enhanced qualified electronic signature and certified by the registry administrator’s authorized person shall be submitted to the client at the registry administrator’s office. If necessary and as agreed with the client, the operator may send duplicate of records signed with an enhanced qualified electronic signature to the client by mail at the client’s cost.

The Article 25 of the Model Agreement - In case of connecting to the exchange of records via the information system specified in the document exchange agreement operated by a Russian entity that meets the requirements approved by the federal executive body authorized to exercise control and supervision in the field of taxes and charges, the records shall be sent to the client in the manner provided for in the document exchange agreement.