By Andrew Osborn
MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree ordering the Russian government to try to meet the 2015 Paris Agreement to fight climate change, but stressed that any action must be balanced with the need to ensure strong economic development.
Russia, the world's fourth largest emitter of greenhouse gases, has previously signalled its acceptance of the accord even as environmentalists have criticised Moscow for shunning compulsory emissions targets for companies backed with fines.
In a decree published on Wednesday, a public holiday in Russia, Putin formally ordered the government to work towards a cut in greenhouse gas emissions of up to 70% against 1990 levels by 2030.
That, said Putin, would also mean harnessing the capability of forests and other eco-systems to absorb such gases.
Putin's order came with a big caveat however. He said any action to cut emissions must take account of the need to ensure steady and balanced socio-economic development, and ordered the government to draw up and ratify a socio-economic strategy up to 2050 that factored in lower emissions.
A previous draft of such a strategy has drawn criticism from green groups for allowing emissions to rise before falling.
Climate change poses a serious challenge for Russia, whose economy relies heavily on oil and gas production, as well as mining. Some of that infrastructure is built on permafrost, which is vulnerable to rising temperatures.
Putin, who has questioned whether human activity is the sole driver of warming climate cycles, has cast himself as a defender of the environment.
He has praised the Paris pact in the past, while saying it would require countries to modernise industry, something likely to cost big business billions of dollars and incur job losses, an eventuality he said had to be properly planned for.