Kyoto requires a cut of 8% in greenhouse gas emissions

As European Union ministers met in Italy, the Union's environment commissioner Margot Wallstroem said Russia would gain economically from ratification.

Since the United States rejected the Kyoto agreement two years ago, Russia's ratification has become vital to reach the threshold needed for it to take effect.

Moscow announced last September that it would ratify the Kyoto protocol, but has not yet done so.

Economic costs

Mrs Wallstroem said western countries would invest in emission-cutting technology in Russia.

"What we can do at the moment is... to demonstrate that we are also interested in providing them with clean technology," she told the meeting in Italy.

Delegates said they believed that Russia's uncertainty was due to economic factors, rather than any objection to the agreement in principle.

The United States has said that the cost of implementing Kyoto would be damaging to its economy.

To come into effect, the Kyoto protocol must be ratified by at least 55 countries, including those responsible for 55% percent of global greenhouse gas emissions in 1990.

Once Russia signs, the protocol will come into effect.

The prime ministers of Japan and Britain, Junichiro Koizumi and Tony Blair, made their own appeal to Russia after their talks on Saturday.

Emissions cut

The Kyoto Protocol, agreed in 1997, is the first serious international attempt to tackle the human-induced greenhouse effect.

The vast majority of environmental scientists believe that gases emitted from industry, transport and domestic heating are warming up the Earth's atmosphere.

Rising sea levels could endanger low-lying coastal areas.

A minority of scientists still insist the changes seen in the last 100 years are consistent with natural variability.

Kyoto requires industrialised countries to cut their emissions to 8% below their 1990 level.