Vol. 52 No. 7 (2022)
Cover story: Green “Agenda” and Forest

No One Has Cancelled the Climate Agenda:Why Is It Important for the Russian Economy?

A.I. Pyzhev
Siberian Federal University, Krasnoyarsk; Institute of Economics and Industrial Engineering of the Siberian Branch, RAS, Novosibirsk

Published 2022-07-05

Keywords

  • climate agenda; climate change; climate change mitigation; adaptation of the economy and social sphere; energy transition; climate skepticism; low-carbon development

How to Cite

1.
Pyzhev А. No One Has Cancelled the Climate Agenda:Why Is It Important for the Russian Economy?. ECO [Internet]. 2022 Jul. 5 [cited 2024 Dec. 4];52(7):31-50. Available from: https://ecotrends.ru/index.php/eco/article/view/4467

Abstract

Not so long ago, the climate agenda was rapidly gaining popularity within Russian political and economic circles. After the events of February 2022, it seemed that the issues of climate diplomacy and participation in international projects to mitigate climate change no longer concern our country at all. The paper argues that the problem of climate change is now acquiring a special, new significance for the Russian economy. It analyzes the essence of contradictions between the supporters of the hypothesis about the anthropogenic causes of global warming, which dominates in the academic community and political circles in many leading countries, and the climate skeptics who do not recognize the justification of this cause-effect relationship. The economic reasons why the global climate agenda will unfold even though the peak of greenhouse gas emissions has not yet been reached, and the scenario of keeping the temperature of the Earth’s atmosphere within the 1.5-degree interval is becoming practically unrealizable, are described. A polemic with some theses of T. Gustafson’s book “Climate. Russia in the Age of Climate Change. An assumption is formulated about the true reasons for increasing sanction pressure on Russia’s raw materials exports from the perspective of the climate agenda. It is suggested that the domestic climate change agenda should be actively developed, with an emphasis on pragmatic relations with Western energy buyers and the development of a strategy of economic and social adaptation to climate change.

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