Russia, the world’s fourth-biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, is bearing witness to one of the most obvious effects of climate change: rapidly rising temperatures in the Arctic. The region is warming more than twice as fast as the rest of the world, altering weather patterns as far south as Texas. Home to more than a fifth of the planet’s forests, Russia has suffered two consecutive years of record-breaking wildfires that released emissions equivalent to those of a mid-sized country such as Spain.
Permafrost, the frozen ground that covers about half of Russian land, is thawing fast, damaging infrastructure, houses and industrial installations at a cost of up to $2.3 billion a year. The Siberian tundra stores an estimated 1,700 gigatons of planet-warming carbon dioxide, twice the amount currently in the atmosphere. Much of it could be released as the ground unfreezes.
But Russia is also home to the world’s largest reserves of liquified natural gas, and melting ice in the Arctic means it can ship more of its most valuable export to other countries. It could also potentially increase oil production. Warnings from climate experts that both activities could accelerate global warming haven’t deterred Russia’s leaders.
LNG burns cleaner than coal or oil, though it still releases emissions. Russia is betting that demand will rise over the coming decades as more countries move to replace coal in order to lower their carbon footprints.