Cover Osteuropa 7-9/2020

In Osteuropa 7-9/2020

No bananas from Siberia!
Climate change and climate policy in Russia

Angelina Davydova


Deutsche Fassung

Abstract

After a long period of prevarication, Russia ratified the Paris Agreement. The population now accepts that climate change is real and that it has negative consequences. Yet Russia is only willing to make a small-scale contribution to limiting climate change. Ambitious strategies for reducing greenhouse gases are being thwarted by powerful political and business opponents, and Russian citizens are almost entirely unwilling change their behaviour. Energy efficiency is an important issue, but renewable energies remain a low priority. One reason for initiating rapid change could come from outside Russia, however. The European Union is planning to take greenhouse gas emissions into account when setting import duty levels, and this is now a cause for concern.

(Osteuropa 7-9/2020, pp. 33–44)