Russia in International Climate Politics

Abstract

This chapter turns to Russia’s international representatives in climate work and examines the various aims and practices that Russian actors bring to the climate negotiations table and to international scientific co-operation. Two examples are examined in particular that allow us to see how expert norms and political concerns may interact in shaping what Russia does in the complex landscape of international climate work. These are: 1) the participation of Russian climate scientists in international climate assessment processes and 2) the promotion of the climate significance of Russia’s vast boreal forests in international climate negotiations. These examples highlight how both groups of actors — climate negotiators and internationally active Russian climate scientists — face a shared challenge in acting as ‘go-betweens’. They belong in part to policy or science communities at the international level, whose practices and traditions are not always easy to translate into Russian domestic environments.KeywordsBoreal ForestKyoto ProtocolInternational ClimateClimate PoliticsCommitment PeriodThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.