New Wind and Opportunities for Climate Protection and Sustainability in Russia
by Klaus Milke
Moskau, October 31, 2019: Ruslan Bayramov the Russian Founder of the International Charity Public Fund “Dialogues of Cultures – United World” and of the exhibition project Etnomir and Klaus Milke, Chairman of Foundations 20 participated as speakers in the annual Russian Donors Forum of this year on October 31 in Moscow.
“We recognize new wind and readiness in Russia to be more active and ambitious on climate protection and the implementation of the SDGs. But there is really also a tremendous urgency to do so”, stated Ruslan Bayramov in a session on climate change at the Russian Donors Forum. “This is because of two important reasons. One is because of very obvious dangerous impacts of the climate crisis in Russia itself. Please look at the rapidly melting permafrost in Siberia and the dangerous impact on infrastructures. The other is that the Russian government just decided to ratify the Paris Climate Agreement.”
“At the Moscow conference we had many very engaged discussions with interested representatives of Russian foundations and donors. We have learned that there is huge potential for a meaningful role Russia can play”, added Klaus Milke. “Especially when we take into account the geographic dimension and the rich diversity of this country. That is why it would be great to have more Russian foundations on board of F20.”
Alexey Shadrin, head of the F20 partner foundation the Russian Carbon Fund and of the Evercity impact platform, moderated the session on SDG 13 (Climate Protection) with Ruslan, Klaus and others, among them also Anton Tsvetov from the Russian Ministry of Economic Development. Alexey underlined: “There is a need for much more concrete international actions and not only to come over with nice announcements of politicians and business people. Russia’s diverse natural capital and talented engineers are willing to make a significant contribution to solving the climate crisis and reaching the UN 2030 Agenda. More international investments and joint think tanks are clearly needed to activate this potential.”
Ruslan Bayramov (Dialogues of Cultures – United World & Etnomir), Klaus Milke (F20 Chair), Alexey Shadrin (Russian Carbon Fund)
Klaus Milke was also invited to visit the Etnomir park 90 km South-West of Moscow. This impressing learning place for more cultural understanding is one of the core activities of Ruslan Bayramov’s foundation. Milke said afterwards: “I can recommend any Russian and traveller to Russia to visit Etnomir with an open mind and enough time”
At the Russian Donors Forum, several of the foundations and donors were interested in an exchange with counterparts in the EU on climate and the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals Agenda. And as the Forum panellist Oldag Caspar, Team Leader German and European Low-Carbon Policy at the NGO Germanwatch added: “The time is ripe on both sides, Russia and the EU, for developing future forms of win-win partnership and transformative collaboration between different groups of stakeholders. Russia and the EU can complement each other for the benefit of both sides and more security in Europe when it comes to building carbon-neutral economies.”
Klaus, Alexey, and Ruslan agreed: “So let us work for more wind of cooperation.”
In the fringes of the conference, Klaus Milke gave two interviews to Russian media outlets, inter alia “+1” (click here).
