from addressing climate change

health coverage have been ensured. Uruguay is internationally recognized for providing all citizens and even non-residents high-quality health services free or virtually free of charge.40 For their part, the experience of EAEU member States in improving equality may provide countries in the LAC region with examples of good practices. For instance, due to the support given its national programs for young professionals, Kazakhstan has managed to ensure labour market access equality for young and older persons. Furthermore, as previously mentioned, EAEU girls are as likely to get a school education as boys. The efficient use of young people’s human capital is a prerequisite for sustainable economic growth in the years to come. Ensuring that all members of society, regardless of their sex or age, are provided an opportunity to enhance their knowledge and apply it by participating in the labour market lays the foundation for future economic development. Meanwhile, persisting social and economic inequalities appear to be a major impediment to inclusivity for the majority of LAC countries, but the region possesses certain comparative advantages that might be of interest to EAEU countries. For example, none of the countries included in the inclusivity index has progressed farther in promoting female participation in its national parliament than the Plurinational State of Bolivia. After a long trajectory of progressively reinforcing women’s rights, the country has finally enshrined their right to equal parliamentary representation in its constitution.41 While determining a country-specific pattern of gender equality achievement requires in-depth consideration, the case of the Plurinational State of Bolivia undoubtedly represents a valuable example of women rights-oriented policy implementation. To conclude, by aiming at ensuring an improvement in the welfare of the population, both regions should take into account certain aspects of inclusivity. The heterogeneity of the progress countries has achieved so far offers a broad scope of exchangeable best practices that can serve as a promising area of cooperation between both regions.

B. Environmental sustainability of economic growth: the evidence from addressing climate change

The ecological aspect of living conditions requires additional effort from many EAEU and LAC States, especially petroleum exporters. Insufficient progress in this direction negatively effects people currently living in countries of either region, but also entails long lasting effects that will be evident to future generations, who might suffer both from unhealthy environmental conditions and unsustainable economic growth resulting from resource depletion. This issue is even more pertinent now that the only positive side-effect of the currently evolving global health crisis may be its impact on greenhouse gas emissions. Whereas during the last five years each appeared to have been among those setting new temperature records and current efforts will not allow for compliance with the Paris Agreement, several countries reported some of the lowest pollution numbers in recent years during the height of the crisis. The challenge seems to be transforming these short-term gains into long-term positive impacts.

40 See, for instance, the assurances of respect by the former Russian Federation Minister of healthcare, Veronika Skvortsova:

Minister of healthcare Veronika Skvortsova speaks at the conference in Montevideo, Uruguay. See [online] https://www.rosminzdrav.ru/ministry/61/24/materialy-po-deyatelnosti-departamenta/globalnaya-konferentsiya-vozpo-voprosu-povysheniya-soglasovannosti-politiki-v-oblastyah-vliyayuschih-na-profilaktiku-i-epidemiologicheskiynadzor-neinfektsionnyh-zabolevaniy/ministr-zdravoohraneniya-veronika-skvortsova-vystupila-na-otkrytii-konferentsiig-montevideo-urugvay (retrieved: 7 April 2020). 41 International IDEA (2014). Bolivian elections result in more women in parliament. See [online] https://www.idea.int/newsmedia/news/bolivian-elections-result-more-women-parliament (retrieved: 7 April 2020).

The ambitious emission reduction pledges of LAC and EAEU States differ substantially and appear uncorrelated with the degree to which countries are affected by future climate change, nor with their current emissions volumes. This means there is much room for improvement in efforts to combat climate change. Some countries, benefiting from their specific geographical situation, have reached certain goals ahead of time. Chile, for example, has been able to raise its objectives for the use of renewable energy on several occasions because a wave of private investment has increased output of both solar and wind energy more quickly than originally planned. While setting goals is an important part of international cooperation, questions remain about how to achieve those objectives. In some LAC countries such as Costa Rica and Uruguay, achieving progress in climate policy is a commonly acknowledged goal by political rivals, making it easier to realize objectives. In EAEU, energy efficiency is a priority in the supranational agenda,42 but issues of combating climate change are the responsibility of each country. On the level of observable progress, the LAC region is responsible for around 8.3% of global emissions, which is slightly less than its share of the global population. On a per capita basis, LAC countries are responsible for greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to around one-third of those of citizens in developed countries. However, with emissions per capita in developed countries on average 38 times as high as those in poor countries, Latin American countries are decidedly median (ECLAC, 2018b). The region appears quite sustainable compared to EAEU countries: with 2.4% of the world’s population, the Union is responsible for 6.8% of the world’s emissions. The major contributors to this number are the Russian Federation (5.35%), Kazakhstan and Belarus (0.91% jointly). Box IV.1 discusses some of the options for reducing the impact of climate change.

Box IV.1 Measures to reduce the impact of climate change The European Commission (2018) describes a range of policy instruments potentially useful in climate adaptation that can help populations adjust to the coming climate impact. Examples of measures include the following:

More efficient use of scarce water sources.

Adapting building codes for public and private buildings, as well as infrastructure to account for future climate conditions. • Building flood defences. • Developing drought-resistant crops and adapting agriculture practices to account for future conditions. • Developing policies focused on Disaster Risk Reduction and increasing resilience for at-risk populations. • Reinforcing long-term healthcare systems in order to accommodate climate-related health risks.

From the prevention side, the use of green fiscal policy is another important instrument. An important argument in that debate is the distributional effects that such taxation may have, with the poorer segments of the population likely to be more strongly affected. Therefore, efforts are needed to design redistribution mechanisms that counter some of these unwanted distributional effects. The figure below shows the use of environmental taxes in different countries. Compared to the European Union, the LAC use of this instrument is relatively underdeveloped, especially with respect to the taxation of energy and vehicles. The only EAEU country with comparable data is Kazakhstan, which ranks above the average OECD country in levying environmental taxes. While the range of measures that countries and regions may pursue is broad, the two regions have not been at the forefront in their adoption. They have yet to undertake the work of designing policy instruments and the funding solutions needed to afford them.

42 Energy efficiency is identified as one of nine “Main Directions of EAEU Economic Development” (EEC, 2015).

3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 Selected countries and groups of countries: value of environmental taxes, 2016 (Percentages of GDP)

European Union Honduras Costa Rica Kazakhstan (2015) Uruguay OECD Mexico Ecuador Dominican Republic Bolivia (Plur. State of) Nicaragua Paraguay Argentina (2015) Chile Jamaica Guatemala Panama El Salvador Trinidad and Tobago Peru

Energy Motorvehicles Other

Source: Prepared by the authors, on the basis of Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Environmental tax, 2020 [online] https://data.oecd.org/envpolicy/environmental-tax.htm. Source: Prepared by the authors, on the basis of Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Environmental tax, 2020 [online] https://data.oecd.org/envpolicy/environmental-tax.htm.

Importantly, the sources of LAC emissions are unlike those of the world average. As shown in the following subsection, renewables account for an important share of the LAC energy mix. As a result, energy generation is responsible for only 46% of the region’s emissions, compared to 70% for the world (see figure IV.3). Instead, agriculture and especially land use changes are important LAC drivers of greenhouse gas emissions.

Figure IV.3 World and Latin America and the Caribbean: structure of greenhouse gas emissions, 2014 (Percentages)

World Latin America and the Caribbean

Industrial processes 9% Land use, land-use change, and forestry 6% Waste 3%

Agriculture 12% Other 0%

Energy 70% Industrial processes 7% Waste 5%

Land use, land-use change, and forestry 19% Other 0% Energy 46%

Agriculture 23%

Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), The climate emergency in Latin America and the Caribbean: the path ahead – resignation or action? (LC/PUB.2019/23-P), Santiago, 2020b.

Greenhouse gases also strongly correlate with air quality. Figure IV.4 compares the death rate attributable to ambient air pollution. The worst performers in the LAC region are Haiti and Guyana, which are both far ahead of the rest of the region with 46 and 43 deaths per 100,000 population, respectively. At the other extreme, countries like Barbados, Panama and Uruguay account for the lowest fatality rates attributable to air pollution. All EAEU countries have rates substantially above those of LAC. The range between the highest and lowest death rates in Kazakhstan and Belarus is small with 69 and 58 deaths, respectively. This is an important consideration during the current COVID-19 health crisis as those who live with substantial pollution tend to be affected more severely. Thus, the pursuit of lower greenhouse gas emissions and pollution can go hand in hand in improving both short- and long-term development.

80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Figure IV.4 Latin America and the Caribbean and Eurasian Economic Union: deaths attributable to ambient air pollution, 2012 (Deaths per 100,000 people)

Kazakhstan Armenia Russian Federation Kyrgyzstan Belarus Haiti Guyana Honduras Bolivia (Plur. State of) Nicaragua El Salvador Venezuela (Bol. Rep. of) Paraguay Dominican Republic Trinidad and Tobago Cuba Grenada Jamaica Belize Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Antigua and Barbuda Guatemala Saint Lucia Argentina Bahamas Colombia Mexico Peru Dominica Suriname Brazil Costa Rica Ecuador Chile Uruguay Panama Barbados

Source: Prepared by the authors, on the basis of World Health Organization (WHO), “Ambient air pollution: a global assessment of exposure and burden of disease”, 2016 [online] https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/ 250141/9789241511353-eng.pdf?sequence=1?.

An exchange of best practices is an avenue to be explored for policy instrument design. Countries may also benefit from a continued exchange of scientific research and policy experiences when designing sensible policies. In any case, solutions to the challenges posed by climate change cannot come from any single country or person, but instead require a coordinated global response. This can be a pivotal area of cooperation within the both the LAC and EAEU regions and between them. In the sphere of fundraising for cooperation, the private sector may play an important role. In an interesting twist, the climate change problem does indeed align private interests in both regions. The development and exploitation of renewable energies is crucial to solving the climate change problem and this is an area in which the private sector can play an important role. In the subsequent subsection, the energy sector is explored as an area of opportunity. Although many traditional energy enterprises from the Russian Federation are already active in the LAC region, other opportunities may remain in the renewable energy sector.