KEY CONCLUSIONS

Climate change is a proven fact

“Regardless of whether climate change is anthropogenic or natural, it is taking place,” Ruslan Edelgeriyev, Advisor to the President of the Russian Federation; Special Presidential Representative on Climate Issues.

“Does the chemical composition of the atmosphere change? Is climate change a consequence of that? Is economic activity of the humankind responsible for it? Professional climate scientists give an unambiguous affirmative answer to these questions. And yes, with a high degree of certainty, in the future we can expect anthropogenic climate change to exacerbate,” Vladimir Katsov, Director, Voeikov Main Geophysical Observatory of the Russian Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environment Monitoring.

Humanity is facing the need to adapt to climate change

“We are doomed to some climate change, because the climate system determines certain inertia. <...> Adaptation is inevitable. In any case we will have to adapt to whatever is going to happen in the coming decades,” Vladimir Katsov, Director, Voeikov Main Geophysical Observatory of the Russian Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environment Monitoring.

“Adapting to climate change is a major challenge for all. The climate is going to warm up 4 to 5 degrees by the end of the century. <...> It is not about evolution, it is about cataclysm,” Sylvie-Agnes Bermann, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the French Republic to the Russian Federation.

PROBLEMS

Global warming is a threat to economy and security

“Climate change is a threat to the economy. The effect of climate change will not be the same for all. It will be worse for the fragile environments: the most abandoned, least diversified economies,” Sylvie-Agnes Bermann, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the French Republic to the Russian Federation.

“It is impossible to insure the risks that the economy is going to face if the temperature continues to rise,” Mikhail Rasstrigin, Deputy Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation.

“When we talk about agriculture and climate, there is a very important thing that we must remember: agriculture is there to feed people. And the problem of food security, the problem of providing food for people is very important and very significant,” Roman Nekrasov, Director of the Department of Crop Production, Mechanization, Chemicalization and Plant Protection of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation.

Lack of an adequate assessment of the impact of various factors on climate 

“The energy sector is now considered the main target among the causes of temperature increase, which is in no way proved by any scientific research. <...> Speaking of the Russian energy sector, it is the greenest among developed countries. <...> We have 51% in the fuel balance: natural gas, hydropower and nuclear energy,” Alexander Ishkov, Deputy Head of the Department for Transportation, Underground Storage and Utilization, Head of the Energy Saving and Environment Department, Gazprom.

Climate change is on the periphery of public attention

“Climate issues and the adaptation of economy to the climate have been observed for quite some time in Russia, but the general public is not concerned about these issues yet,” Kirill Nikitin, Partner, Government and Public Sector Leader, PwC Russia.

Economic solutions do not take the aspects of warming into account 

“Adaptation is a process of various complex measures that, on the one hand, adapt, take into account the risks that arise for the people and the economy due to climate change, but on the other hand, they use the few favourable opportunities that the climate change creates. And that is where there is a big difficulty with making good economic decisions that, on the one hand, would take into account the negative change, and on the other hand, would properly take advantage of the positive change,” Boris Porfiriev, Director and Head of the Laboratory of Analysis and Forecasting of Natural and Man-Made Economic Risks, Institute of Economic Forecasting, Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS).

SOLUTIONS

Changing regulation with the climate-related risks in mind

“Russian regions should not be simply provided with recommendations –there should be a regulation that compels each region to develop an adaptation plan, taking its own features into account,” Ruslan Edelgeriyev, Advisor to the President of the Russian Federation; Special Presidential Representative on Climate Issues.

“We have to introduce certain regulation on accounting, verification, confirmation of the emissions that our enterprises and our economy face in order to <...> properly plan further actions and interact with the rest of the world in terms of tackling climate change,” Mikhail Rasstrigin, Deputy Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation.

“Standards are no longer the same. We need to change codes for construction, apply completely different technologies in order to protect ourselves from harm,” Maya Danilova, Minister of Economy, Republic of Sakha (Yakutia).

Investing in energy efficient and environmentally friendly technologies

“This is about making investment decisions: large investments are required, that will allow, on the one hand, to reduce risks, and on the other hand, to use favourable opportunities. Moreover, favourable opportunities are used solely due to investments, they are not generated automatically,” Boris Porfiriev, Director and Head of the Laboratory of Analysis and Forecasting of Natural and Man-Made Economic Risks, Institute of Economic Forecasting, Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS).

“The paradigm of reducing negative impact is inextricably linked to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions as an effect of energy efficiency programmes,” Ivan Rebrik, Director for Environment, Labour and Industrial Safety Department, RUSAL.

“Green financing is growing by more than 10% every year and currently stands at around USD 600 billion annually. <...> But 600 billion annually is clearly not enough, it should be 10 times more,” Sylvie-Agnes Bermann, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the French Republic to the Russian Federation.

Government and business working together on climate solutions

“It is important for us to interact with business; without such interaction we will not be able to move further along this track to preparing for change and interaction with climate,” Mikhail Rasstrigin, Deputy Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation.

“States must drive public policies that effectively encourage changes in habits while ensuring social and generational justice to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” Sylvie-Agnes Bermann, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the French Republic to the Russian Federation.

“We need initiatives from private sector, from private capital, in order to work together on the issue of climate change,” Mikhail Rasstrigin, Deputy Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation.

“We cannot achieve anything without business and without private initiative,” Sylvie-Agnes Bermann, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the French Republic to the Russian Federation.