The melting of the Arctic has a silver lining for Russia. It allows them better access to natural gas deposits under the ice. Combined with their increasingly sophisticated ice-breaking ships, the natural gas extraction season has been lengthening for Russia’s gas produces.
That creates a double whammy for the climate – on one hand, the Arctic is already warming at a faster rate than the rest of the world, and on the other, the warming creates further opportunity for natural gas (cleaner than oil and coal but still dirty) to be extracted and exported or burned by Russia’s energy players.
This makes Russia sound like a villain, but we should spare a couple of thoughts for the country. Solar panels are impractical in much of the country where sunlight is scarce, and wind is very limited and unreliable, more so than in coastal countries like the U.K. Meanwhile, the melting of permafrost on their lands is causing huge damage to the infrastructure that sits upon it, and the frequency of wildfires in Russia’s vast forests is increasing dramatically. Russia recognises the risks of global warming but its options for shifting to renewable energy may be less limited than other nations.
In Russia’s efforts towards energy security, then, we can have some sympathy towards their continued use of natural gas. It is cleaner than oil and coal after all, and Russia’s energy use per person is still orders of magnitude less than that of the US and other major economies.
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