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Climate Briefing #3

Webinar · 09.03.2021 12:00 - 13:15

Russia and Climate Politics: Domestic developments and international challenges

Tuesday 9 March 2021, at 12:00-13:15 (EET)

Russia’s role is central to global climate politics. Russia is the fourth largest emitter of carbon dioxide and has vast potential for the development of renewable energy. It ratified the Paris climate agreement in 2019 and published a long-term climate strategy in 2020. Meanwhile, its current emission reduction targets remain unambitious. Heavy dependence on the hydrocarbon economy complicates the prospects for the energy transition in Russia. However, the expected decrease in the global demand of fossil fuels will put pressure on Russia to adapt. Cooperation with international partners could help the country avoid a technological gap in clean energy technology and develop a more sustainable economic model.

What are the main domestic developments and external factors influencing Russia’s stance on climate politics? Can Russia and the European Union cooperate within the framework of the European Green Deal?

The recording of the event can be accessed below:

Speakers

Opening remarks

Jussi Lassila

Senior Research Fellow, FIIA

Jussi Lassila is a Senior Research Fellow in the EU’s Eastern Neighbourhood and Russia research programme at FIIA. His recent publications include Digital authoritarianism in China and Russia: Common goals and diverging standpoints in the era of great-power rivalry (FIIA Briefing Paper 294 with Elina Sinkkonen), Glitches in the Kremlinʼs politics of Fear: The dynamics of repression in Russia between 2012 and 2019 (FIIA Briefing Paper 273) and a co-edited and co-authored volume War and Memory in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus (Palgrave Macmillan 2017). Dr Lassila has published widely on issues related to Russian domestic politics, in particular identity politics, nationalism, populism and political communication.

Presentation

Anna Korppoo

Research Professor, Fridtjof Nansen Institute

Anna Korppoo is a Research Professor at the Fridtjof Nansen Institute, and holds a PhD in energy policy from Imperial College London (2007). She has been working on Russian climate-change policies and politics at the national and international levels since 2000, and speaks Russian. She has followed Russia’s role in international climate negotiations and studied the implementation of Russia’s domestic policies to reduce emissions. Dr Korppoo is the author of numerous peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters and policy briefs, and three books. Her latest co-authored book published by Edward Elgar is titled Informal Institutions in Policy Implementation, Comparing Low Carbon Policies in China and Russia.

Presentation

Igor Makarov

Head of the School of World Economy of the National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow

Igor A. Makarov is Head of the School of World Economy of the National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE) in Moscow. He also directs the Laboratory for Climate Change Economics and works as a senior research fellow at the Centre for Comprehensive European and International Studies at the same university. He was a visiting scholar at Stanford University (2011) and Harvard University (2016 and 2019), taught at the University of Tehran (2016) and the Autonomous University of Madrid (2017). Dr Makarov has a PhD in Economics. His research interests cover international political economy, globalization, Asia-Russia relations, and environmental and climate change economics. He is the lead author and an editor of the monograph Russia’s Turn to the East: Development of Siberia and Far East under the Conditions of Strengthening Asian Vector in Russian Foreign Policy (2016).

Chair

Marco Siddi

Senior Research Fellow, FIIA

Marco Siddi is Senior Research Fellow at FIIA, where he focuses primarily on EU-Russia relations, EU energy and climate policy, and the politics of memory and identity. His publications include the monograph European Identities and Foreign Policy Discourses on Russia: From the Ukraine to the Syrian Crisis (Routledge, 2020) and numerous articles in academic journals, including Europe-Asia Studies, Politics, Geopolitics, The International Spectator, German Politics, Russian Politics, Journal of Contemporary European Studies and International Politics. He is a member of the ECPR Research Group on Energy Politics, Policy and Governance and of the Younger Generation Leaders Network on Euro-Atlantic Security. He teaches courses on International Relations, EU-Russia relations and EU energy and climate policy at the universities of Helsinki, Tampere and Cagliari.