Russia’s Climate Policy Objectives in the Context of Global Challenges and Economic Interests

Abstract

The article explores the motives and related objectives of Russia’s climate policy in the context of increasing global challenges and the need to ensure national economic interests. The relevance of the study is defined by the recent development of various factors, including the increasing complexity of the international climate agenda, the development of negative consequences of climate change, the significant growth of the global clean energy market, the impact of which should be taken into account to determine a balanced approach to the goals of the country’s climate policy. The aim of the work is to identify possible priorities for Russia’s climate policy based on an analysis of the relevance for Russia of the key motives that determine national climate strategies in countries around the world. The work used analyses of open data, reports of international analytical agencies and Russian authorities, and studied regulatory legal documents of Russia and other countries. The study revealed motives specific to Russia, such as the strengthening of international carbon regulation that affects Russian exporters, the high dependence of the country’s economy on oil and gas, the acute problem of air pollution in certain regions, and increasing vulnerability to climate change. Based on these motives, the objectives of Russian climate policy are proposed taking into account the balance between the need for prompt response to external challenges, utilisation of national advantages, and long-term structural transformations in the context of uncertainty in the global climate agenda. Prospective directions for further research include the development of the most relevant tasks that need to be solved to achieve each of the objectives defined in the paper, as well as the assessment of the effectiveness of such tasks.