By GEORGE SAFONOV WOODROW W. CLARK II DIMITRI ELKIN IVAN KAPITONOV
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RUSSIA-DIRECT.ORG |#24 | NOVEMBER 2015 BY GEORGE SAFONOV WOODROW W. CLARK II DIMITRI ELKIN IVAN KAPITONOV AVAILABLE FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY $4.99 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The report examines the changes happening Other states also recognize the problem but in Russia since the issue of global warming their positions differ in the way the issue was introduced on the global agenda. Only should be solved. India, China, the EU, Japan, today, after the planet has experienced a the U.S. and Brazil, all of which are important variety of catastrophic natural disasters, have players analyzed in the report, find it hard to world leaders and decision makers grown reach common ground in reaching a globally more aware of the urgency of the problem. In binding agreement. Whether this will be Russia, where the climate changes have been done ultimately depends on the outcome of more significant than globally on average, the the Paris climate change conference. government has increased its objectives in The report also considers the state of the reducing greenhouse gas emissions and put Russian climate change movement from forward a number of initiatives and green po the experience of WWF activities in Russia, licy measures to achieve more sustainability provides an overview of the development in the long term. Russia’s target for green of the Russian green energy sector with house gas emissions in 2030 is set at 7075 specific success stories and analyzes the percent of the base level of 1990, according to prospects of renewable energy development the new action plan adopted by the Kremlin. in different regions of the country. LGIORI/LE ON MEDIA AUTHORS GEORGE SAFONOV, Ph.D., is the Director of the Center for Environmental and Natural Resource Economics at the National Research University Higher School of Economics. Safonov is a member of the Russian official delegation and observer organizations at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and Kyoto Protocol Conferences and Meetings since 1999. | Page 4 WOODROW W. CLARK II, Ph.D., is a qualitative economist, professor as well as an entrepreneur and former advisor to California Governor Gray Davis. During the 1990s he was Manager of Strategic Planning for Technology Transfer at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) for the University of California and the U.S. Department of Energy. He served as one of the contributing scientists to the work of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). | Page 9 DIMITRI ELKIN is a Russian-American businessman and writer. He holds an undergraduate degree in mathematics from the Lomonosov Moscow State University and an M.B.A. from Harvard University. He is a partner with Twelve Seas Capital, an international private equity fund, whose investments include a renewable energy company with assets in the UK, Scandinavia and Italy. | Page 9 IVAN KAPITONOV is the Deputy Head of the Department of State Regulation of the Economy and a Lecturer of Public Finance at the International Institute of Public Service and Administration of the Russian Academy of the National Economy and Public Administration under the President of the Russian Federation. Since 2007, he has been a senior fellow at the Energy Policy Sector of the Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences. | Page 18 2 russia-direct.org FROM The changing THE EDITOR climate for Russian environmental policy Today, climate change issues are gaining momentum among major countries, including Russia, which are against the backdrop of this year’s landmark U.N. confe- responsible for the majority of pollution. Moreover, they rence COP21 in Paris. The global community has every suggest how President Vladimir Putin could use the cli- reason to be optimistic that world leaders will agree on a mate change agenda to improve Russia’s image abroad. new climate change agreement by the end of this year. Finally, Ivan Kapitonov of the Institute of Economics of For Russia, which is preoccupied with its foreign policy the Russian Academy of Sciences takes a closer look at and economic problems, climate change issues never- a “green energy revolution” in Russia and analyzes the theless are coming to the forefront, as warming in the potential of the most interesting projects in renewable country occurs at a considerably higher rate than globally energy in the country. on average. The report also contains our interview with Alexey In this RD report, we take a look at Russia’s environmen- Kokorin, head of WWF Russia’s climate and energy pro- tal initiatives and compare them with those of other gram, who provides insight into how non-governmental countries. First, George Safonov of the National Research organizations are changing public perception with regard University Higher School of Economics analyzes how the to climate change. climate has changed in Russia and what Moscow’s cur- I hope you will enjoy this report. Please do not hesitate rent climate policies are. He comes to a conclusion that to reach me directly at [email protected] based on four factors, Russia has an enormous potential with your questions or suggestions. for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the long-term. Ekaterina Zabrovskaya, Editor-in-Chief Next, Woodrow W. Clark II and Dimitri Elkin explain why they are optimistic about the Paris summit by reviewing what has changed in the positions on climate change Write to us [email protected] for general comments, subscription and distribution questions; Send an email to: [email protected] for your submissions, article proposals, topic suggestions, and content-related comments; [email protected] for sales and advertising. Eugene Abov Chairman, Russia Direct, Deputy Director General, Rossiyskaya Gazeta Publishing House, Publisher, Russia Beyond The Headlines Julia Golikova Director for Development, Russia Direct, Deputy Publisher, Commercial and Foreign Partnership Director, Russia Beyond The Headlines Ekaterina Zabrovskaya Editor-in-Chief Pavel Koshkin Executive Editor Dominic Basulto Executive Editor, U.S. Ksenia Zubacheva Managing Editor Alexey Khlebnikov Senior Editor Elena Potapova Head of Video and Mobile Yaroslav Cohen Digital Innovations Producer Pavel Inzhelevskiy Video Producer Olga Fastova Associate Publisher, Sales, Marketing, Events Maria Shashaeva Deputy Publisher, Circulation, Digital Strategy and Operations Olga Ivanova Senior Advisor Alexander Dmitrienko Production and Foreign Partnerships Manager Ekaterina Peregudova Production Finance Manager Ludmila Burenkova Accounts Payable Manager Antonina Steshina Director of Human Resources Antonina Osipova Marketing Director Helen Borisenko Research Manager Anna Sergeeva Account Manager, NY Olga Guitchounts Account Manager, DC Maria Kleymenova Show and PR Director Andrey Shimarskiy Art Director Andrey Zaitsev Associate Art Director Alexander Kislov Designer Nikolay Korolev Photo Editor Ilya Ovcharenko Production Designer © Russia Direct 2015 All rights reserved. ISSN 2412-8171. A product of Rossiyskaya Gazeta. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, or by any information storage and retrieval system. The views expressed are those of certain participants in the discussion and do not necessarily reflect the views of all participants or of Russia Direct. 3 RUSSIA-DIRECT.ORG REUTERS Climate change in Russia: How real is the problem? The climate warming lobal climate change is a major challenge to the world community in the 21st century. According to scientists, the climate changes are mainly rate in Russia is Gcaused by an unprecedented growth in the concentration of greenhouse considerably higher gases (primarily, CO2) in the atmosphere. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), an association of over than the world two thousand leading climate experts including those from Russia, has provided average. What is data indicating that the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere has reached 400 parts per million (ppm) in 2015, which is well above its maximum levels for the Moscow doing to past 10,000 years. The concentrations of methane, nitrous oxide and other gases address the issue? producing a greater greenhouse effect (hundreds and thousands times that of CO2) have been growing swiftly as well. Undoubtedly, the climate system is also influenced by other factors such as so- GEORGE SAFONOV lar activity, terrestrial albedo, atmospheric pollution by suspended solids (from volcanic eruptions, pollutant emissions by industrial and power supply sources, etc.), and others. However, according to the IPCC, the emission of greenhouse gases due to the economic activity of man and the annihilation of woodlands have contributed the most to the growth of greenhouse gases concentration over the past 50-100 years, a period when carbon fuel was put to active use. As indicated by observations, the global mean temperature has risen by 0.8°C since 1850. Meanwhile, the warming rate in the Northern hemisphere is twice its global average value, reaching 0.33°C per decade over the period of 1976-2012. 4 russia-direct.org Along with the growth of the global mean tempera- The flood in the Amur basin, droughts of 2010 and 2012 ture, some other extremely disturbing, dangerous climate (which, according to some estimates, caused dam- hydrometeorological phenomena have occurred age of over 300 billion rubles or $4.5 billion), forest such as changes in the hydrological regimes (atmos- change is fires, and many others. pheric