Tag: Environment

JRL NEWSWATCH: “Ukraine’s counteroffensive to continue after onset of bad weather, spy chief says” – Reuters

Environment, Headlines, JRL NewsBlog, Military, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War
Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

“Ukraine’s counteroffensive … will continue through the onset of cold and wet weather later this year …, Kyiv’s intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov said[:] …. ‘Combat actions will continue in one way or another. In the cold, wet and mud, it is more difficult to fight. Fighting will continue. The counteroffensive will continue’ …. Apart from the huge concentration of Russian […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “U.S. General Warns Time Is Running Out for Ukraine’s Counteroffensive” – Newsweek

Environment, Headlines, JRL NewsBlog, Military, Spies, Spy Allegations, Ukraine, Russo-Ukrainian War, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

“[According to] General Mark Milley, … Chairman[,] … Joint Chiefs of Staff[,] … Ukraine’s forces have … 30 to 45 days left … before … fall weather … stop[s] their advance. … ‘There’s still heavy fighting going on,’ Milley said, adding that Ukraine was ‘still plugging away with steady progress.’ …  [W]ith progress slow, and the counteroffensive launched later than […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Norway is rebuilding a reindeer fence at the border to stop the animals’ costly strolls into Russia” – AP

Environment, Europe, EU, Headlines, JRL NewsBlog, Norway
Reindeer File Photo adapted from image at blm.gov

“Norway is rebuilding a dilapidated reindeer fence along its border with Russia in the Arctic to stop the animals from wandering into the neighboring country.” “[The wandering reindeer go on] costly strolls for which Oslo has to compensate Moscow over loss of grassland. Norwegian officials said … so far this year, 42 reindeer have crossed into Russia seeking better pastures […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Glasgow Deals Prompt Russia Rethink on Coal Plans, Carbon Tax” – Bloomberg/ Evgenia Pismennaya, Yuliya Fedorinova

China, Environment, JRL NewsBlog, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
Graphics Depicting Carbon Compounds and Water Molecules, adapted from image at nasa.gov

“Russia will look to cut its ambitious goals for boosting coal production … and consider imposing a carbon tax or other regulation in the wake of … the COP26 summit … according to two officials familiar with the plans. But Russia won’t join the global agreement to reduce methane emissions, [they] said, speaking on condition of anonymity …. [Russia] is […]

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RUSSIALINK: “What Did Russia Achieve at COP26?” – Moscow Times

Environment
Siberian River, Forest, Mountain

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Nov. 16, 2021) Now that the United Nations’ COP26 climate summit has ended, opinions are split over whether world leaders made the commitments needed to keep global warming from passing a catastrophic threshold. Here’s a look at things Russia did — and did not do — at the landmark summit in Glasgow: Deforestation pledge Russia, […]

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RUSSIALINK: “Kremlin Pushes Back on Biden’s Climate Criticism” – Moscow Times

Environment, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
Siberian River, Forest, Mountain

Russia, as well as fellow major polluters China and India, did not sign the U.S. and EU-led Global Methane Pledge to cut methane emissions 30% by 2030 …. [but] the world’s fourth-largest greenhouse gas emitter[] did join over 100 countries … promising to end deforestation by 2030 […]

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RUSSIALINK: “How Is Climate Change Impacting Russia?” – Moscow Times

Environment
File Photo of Polar Bear on Snow with Bare Ground in the Background, adapted from image at nasa.gov with photo credit to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service/Eric Regehr

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Nov. 2, 2021) As world leaders gather in Glasgow for the COP26 climate summit in hopes of agreeing on a strategy to avoid catastrophic global warming, Russia stands to face significant changes from climate change in the coming decades. Here’s a look at some of the ways Russia, which is warming 2.5 times faster than […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Rosneft announces energy transition strategy as climate conference approaches” – bne Intellinews

Environment, JRL NewsBlog, Oil, Gas, Energy
File Photo of Rosneft and Russian Flags Next to Rosneft Banner

“Oil giant Rosneft announced the creation of a plan to transition to green energy, but also warned that fossil fuels would never fully be replaced.” “Russian state oil major Rosneft is developing a new strategy centred on the transition to renewable energy resources. … [according to] CEO Igor Sechin …. However, … [he] stress[ed] that oil and gas would continue […]

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Nicola Avery: Re: “Our occasional blog about climate science in/around Russia” [“More Than Bears: News From Climate Scientists Around Russia”]

Environment, Science, Technology, Engineering
File Photo of Polar Bear on Snow with Bare Ground in the Background, adapted from image at nasa.gov with photo credit to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service/Eric Regehr

Subject: Our occasional blog about climate science in/around Russia Date: Wed, 08 Sep 2021 From: Nicola Avery <nicolaavery@protonmail.com> We started a climate science blog a year or so ago, profiling scientists, mostly in Russia. We are developing the blog on a voluntary basis so only posting occasionally which is managed by Alina Bychkova at Nottingham Trent University, cc’d. We have […]

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RUSSIALINK: “Russia’s 2021 Wildfires Now Largest in Recorded History” – Moscow Times

Disasters, Environment, Far East, Siberia, APEC
Forest Fire file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Aug. 17, 2021) Russia’s 2021 wildfires are already the largest in the history of satellite observations, burning across 17.08 million hectares of land, the Greenpeace Russia environmental group has said. The new record beats the previous record set in 2012, when fires burned 17 million hectares of land, and comes with weeks left to go […]

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RUSSIALINK: “Putin Alarmed Over ‘Unprecedented’ Natural Disasters in Russia” – Moscow Times

Disasters, Environment, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Regions, Cities, Municipalities
Forest Fire file photo

Putin … said the scale of natural disasters that have hit Russia this year is “absolutely unprecedented” as local officials ask for Moscow’s help to tackle fires and floods […]

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The Week In Russia: The Dangerous Summer

Coronavirus, Covid-19 Pandemic, Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Environment, Far East, Siberia, APEC, Human Rights, Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's, Regions, Cities, Municipalities
Forest Fire file photo

As September elections approach, COVID-19 takes a mounting toll and wildfires burn across huge swaths of the country …. The Kremlin crackdown on dissenters, civil society, and independent media continues […]

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RUSSIALINK: “UN’s Bombshell Climate Change Report Forecasts Fire and Floods for Russia” – Moscow Times

Environment, United Nations
File Photo of Polar Bear on Snow with Bare Ground in the Background, adapted from image at nasa.gov with photo credit to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service/Eric Regehr

Russia can expect to see intensifying wildfires, floods and other extreme weather events in the coming decades as the global climate crisis deepens a decade sooner than projected […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “U.S. and Russia pledge to ‘move together’ against climate change” – Financial Times

Environment, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
File Photo of Polar Bear on Snow with Bare Ground in the Background, adapted from image at nasa.gov with photo credit to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service/Eric Regehr

“First positive sign of potential easing of tensions since last month’s summit” “Russia, … fourth-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, has signed up to the Paris climate agreement to limit emissions. Rapidly rising temperatures in Siberia … flooding and forest fires have made climate … increasingly important …. Putin, who four years ago blamed rising global temperatures on volcanoes and ‘cosmic […]

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‘Green Shift’ Occurring across Russian Political Spectrum, Shaburov Says

Environment, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Regions, Cities, Municipalities
Russia Regions Map

Most parties … participating in the upcoming Duma and regional legislative assembly elections are now including environmentalists in their list of candidates […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Russian Military Seeks to Outmuscle U.S. in Arctic” – Wall Street Journal

Arctic, China, Environment, JRL NewsBlog, Oil, Gas, Energy, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
File Photo of Polar Bear on Snow with Bare Ground in the Background, adapted from image at nasa.gov with photo credit to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service/Eric Regehr

“For Moscow it is the last geopolitical battleground where it holds the advantage over Washington and Beijing” “… [N]ew and refurbished bases [are] meant to service the Kremlin’s ambitions in the resource-rich Arctic. … combined to form a new military district … under … the Northern Fleet, Russia’s foremost Arctic naval force[] … [with fleet] headquarters … on the Kola […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Arctic-Superpower Jostling Heats Up as Russia Takes on Key Role” – Bloomberg

Arctic, Environment, JRL NewsBlog, Military, Minerals, Oil, Gas, Energy, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
File Photo of Arctic Fox Running Across Snow, adapted from image at USGS.gov, with photo credit to Mike Lockart and USGS

“Russia’s Sergei Lavrov claimed this week that ‘this is our land and our waters’ as NATO allies boost military activity” “… Russian and U.S. diplomats … [signal] rising tensions between [powers] racing to seize Arctic resources …. Arctic Council [participants] weren’t due to discuss security. But … Russia’s … Sergei Lavrov declared … the Arctic ‘is our land and our […]

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The Prospects for U.S.-Russia Climate Engagement Under Moscow’s Chairing of the Arctic Council

Arctic, Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Environment, Oil, Gas, Energy, Transportation, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
File Photo of Arctic Fox Running Across Snow, adapted from image at USGS.gov, with photo credit to Mike Lockart and USGS

… [T]he rotating chairmanship of the Arctic Council … intergovernmental forum … will pass from Iceland to Russia for a two-year term. … [as] the organization grapples with multiple challenges and Russia-West relations have hit another historic low […]

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RUSSIALINK: “Harvesting of whales, dolphins to be banned in Russia – Mishustin” – Interfax

Environment
File Photo of Dolphins Swimming and Leaping, adapted from image at noaa.gov

MOSCOW. May 13 (Interfax) – The Russian government is planning to ban the harvesting of whales and dolphins for industrial and coastal fishing purposes, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said. “We are planning additional regulations, this time for individual and coastal fishing purposes. First of all, this will apply to whales and dolphins. The new bill will ban their harvesting. […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Biden invites Putin, Xi to his first major climate talks” – bne Intellinews

China, Environment, JRL NewsBlog, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
File Photo of Smokestackm Emssions and Sky adapted from image at nasa.gov with credit to EPA

“… Biden … has invited … Putin … and Xi Jinping … to … virtual climate talks. … [scheduled for] 22-23 April. … Some 40 invitations [were sent] to … leaders of … major countries, as well as [some at-risk, low-lying] countries …. If Putin or Xi attend, Biden will have to walk a fine line diplomatically, given claims of […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Where Climate Scientists See Danger, Russia Sees an Opportunity” – Bloomberg

Arctic, Environment, JRL NewsBlog, Oil, Gas, Energy
Map of Arctic Highlighting Permafrost, adapted from image at nasa.gov

“Rising temperatures in the Arctic are a warning sign for the planet. The melting ice has an economic upside for Russia.” “Russia … fourth-biggest [greenhouse gas] emitter … [also faces Arctic] temperatures … warming more than twice [that of global rates] …. [With] more than a fifth of the planet’s forests, Russia has [had] two consecutive years of record-breaking wildfires […]

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Russian Company Pays Largest Legal Award In History — Almost $2 Billion — For Devastating Arctic Fuel Spill

Arctic, Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Environment
File Photos of Law Books and Gavel, adapted from image at fjc.gov

… [T]he Krasnoyarsk City Court of Arbitration ruled that almost all of the sum, the largest legal award in Russian history, must go to the federal treasury […]

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From Russia with Questions

Environment, Regions, Cities, Municipalities, Science, Technology, Engineering
Map of Arctic Highlighting Permafrost, adapted from image at nasa.gov

… [Our NASA Earth Observatory] team noticed a … message with a peculiar and beautiful image from Russia near 66 degrees north latitude. It turned into a scientific detective story and an unresolved case […]

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Expert Survey: How Will Climate Change Impact U.S.-Russian Relations?

Environment
File Photo of Polar Bear on Snow with Bare Ground in the Background, adapted from image at nasa.gov with photo credit to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service/Eric Regehr

(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org – RM Staff – Jan. 28, 2021) As the effects of climate change grow more intense each year, attention is shifting to the inevitable geopolitical impacts of a warming planet. In 2020, Russia experienced its warmest winter on record, while the summer saw forest fires rip through Siberia like never before. At the same time, a […]

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RUSSIALINK: “Blame Climate Change for Historically Warm Fall in Russia’s Biggest Cities, Experts Say” – Moscow Times

Environment, Regions, Cities, Municipalities
Cartoon Sun and Thermometer, adapted from cdc.gov

… Russia’s two largest cities experienced the warmest autumn temperatures of their recorded histories in 2020 …. And it’s only the beginning, experts say […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Along Russia’s ‘Road of Bones,’ Relics of Suffering and Despair” – New York Times/ Andrew Higgins

Far East, Siberia, APEC, History, Soviet Union, Human Rights, JRL NewsBlog, Regions, Cities, Municipalities

“The Kolyma Highway in the Russian Far East once delivered tens of thousands of prisoners to the work camps of Stalin’s gulag. The ruins of that cruel era are still visible today.” “… [P]risoners, hacking … through insect-infested summer swamps and winter ice fields, brought the road … [which] then brought yet more prisoners … a torrent of slave labor […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Warming shrinks Arctic Ocean ice to 2nd lowest on record” – AP

Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Cartoon Sun and Thermometer, adapted from cdc.gov

“… The extent of ice-covered ocean at the North Pole and extending further south to Alaska, Canada, Greenland and Russia reached its summertime low of 1.4 million square miles … last week before starting to grow again. Arctic sea ice reaches its low point in September and its high in March after the winter. This year’s melt is second only […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Climate Change in Russia and the Weaponization of Wheat” – The Center for Climate and Security/ Leah Emanuel

Agriculture, Arctic, Economy, Business, Investment, Trade
Arctic Map

“As temperatures in the Russian Arctic rapidly increase and permafrost continues to melt, Russian land feasible for wheat production is beginning to grow. … While wheat makes up only 2.3% of Russia’s total exports, this small percentage constitutes a major portion of the global wheat export market. … Relying on wheat production in these newly farmable lands, however, will not […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Siberia’s ‘gateway to the underworld’ grows as record heat wave thaws permafrost” – Science Magazine/ Richard Stone

Environment, Far East, Siberia, APEC, JRL NewsBlog
Cartoon Sun and Thermometer, adapted from cdc.gov

“… Known to locals as the ‘gateway to the underworld,’ Batagay is … [earth’s] largest thaw slump …. Once just a gully … the scar has expanded … as … permafrost thaws and meltwater carries off … sediment. Now more than 900 meters wide, it epitomizes the vulnerability of permafrost in the Arctic …. Outbursts of pent-up methane gas in […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “An oil spill in Russia’s Arctic exposes risks for Moscow’s Far North plans” – Washington Post/ Isabelle Khurshudyan, Andrew Freedman

Arctic, Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Environment
Map of Arctic Highlighting Permafrost, adapted from image at nasa.gov

“Thawing permafrost in the rapidly warming region leaves Moscow’s ambitious Arctic expansion proposals literally on shaky ground.” “… [S]urg[ing] … climate change in interior Russia – more than three times the global average – is throwing new risks in the way of … Putin’s Far North agenda, among his top domestic initiatives. A key danger is … more infrastructure atop […]

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RUSSIALINK: “Melting Arctic Permafrost Threatens Russian Energy Firms’ Bottom Line – Morgan Stanley” – Moscow Times

Arctic, Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Environment
File Photo of Polar Bear on Snow with Bare Ground in the Background, adapted from image at nasa.gov with photo credit to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service/Eric Regehr

Rapidly melting Arctic permafrost poses the greatest threat to major Russian energy producers’ infrastructure and financial indicators, according to a new Morgan Stanley report […]

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