Abstract
As the world’s largest fossil fuels exporter, Russia is one of the key countries for addressing global climate change. However, it has never demonstrated any significant ambitions to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This paper applies ideational research methodology to identify the structural differences in economic, political, and social normative contexts between industrialized fossil fuel importing economies and Russia that lead to the fundamental gap in motivations driving decarbonization efforts. Russia is unlikely to replicate the approach to the green transition and climate policy instruments of energy-importing countries. In order to launch decarbonization in Russia, interested stakeholders need to frame climate policies in Russia differently. Specifically, the framing must address the priority of diversification as a means to adapting the national economy to a new green landscape, the combination of diverse channels for decarbonization, the promotion of energy-efficiency, closer attention to climate-related forest projects, and linkage of climate change with other environmental problems. Moreover, considering Russia’s emissions as a part of the global economic system and shifting from a simplistic national focus on GHG emissions reduction would help coordinate policies through dialogue between exporters and importers of fossil fuel energy-intensive goods, which is essential for the global movement towards a net-zero future.
Highlights
Countries vary in terms of their willingness to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
This paper suggests that the different systems of motivations for GHG emissions reduction typical for Russia may require a different ideational base for climate policies and different instruments than those used in ‘enthusiastic’ countries
The provided analysis shows that Russia as a fossil fuel dependent country has very different motivating factors regarding climate change mitigation compared to ‘enthusiastic’ countries
Summary
Countries vary in terms of their willingness to reduce GHG emissions. Many economic, geographic, and political factors lead to the differences in countries' climate policy ambitions (Schmitz 2017; Tørstad et al 2020). In the literature (Victor 2011; Hovi et al 2016; Makarov 2020), this group of countries is often called ‘enthusiastic’ and usually includes energy-importing countries, developed ones, and those with emerging economies such as China It is these ‘enthusiastic’ countries that are the pioneers of the green transition. Some countries are unwilling to make any significant efforts to cope with climate change The core of this group consists of fossil-fuel-dependent countries (FFDC). This paper suggests that the different systems of motivations for GHG emissions reduction typical for Russia may require a different ideational base for climate policies and different instruments than those used in ‘enthusiastic’ countries.
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