Russ Oil-Gas

MOSCOW, April 24 (RIA Novosti) - The U.K. subsidiary of Russian energy giant Gazprom [RTS: GAZP] has signed a six-year agreement with Brazil's Propower to acquire carbon emission reduction credits, Gazprom said Tuesday. Established as a supplier of natural gas to major wholesale organizations, and also small and medium retail customers in the U.K.'s industrial and commercial sectors, Gazprom Marketing & Trading also seeks to implement Gazprom's strategy of providing active support for the global carbon business under the United Nations Kyoto Protocol. The 1998 Kyoto Protocol to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, which sets greenhouse gas emission targets for the period up to 2012, entered into force two years ago, following ratification by 141 countries, which together account for over 55% of global emissions. Gazprom Marketing & Trading and Propower have also agreed on joint investment in other projects in Brazil under the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism that will generate additional carbon emission reduction credits for the Gazprom subsidiary, the Russian energy giant said. Established in 2001, Brazil's Propower develops and introduces solutions for the use of renewable energy sources. The company also controls some renewable energy biomass power generation plants.