Mitigating black carbon emissions from gas flaring and Arctic maritime shipping: Russia’s anti-Western ambitions in the Arctic

Abstract

The Arctic region and Russia, the major emitter of greenhouse gases, are facing effects of climate change faster than the rest of the world. Evidently, climate change and adoption to it will shape Russia’s future, and vice versa, regardless of who or what kind of a government is in power. This includes addressing the problem of black carbon and other short-lived climate pollutants from hydrocarbon industry and maritime shipping in the Northern Sea Route accelerating climate warming, with harmful effects on air quality, ecosystems and human health. Drawing on insights of international relations literature, this article examines conceptualizations of illiberalism, illiberal environmentalism and their contemporary versions in Russia, and discusses how these frameworks can be applied to understand Russia’s policy choices regarding climate change and the Arctic since the invasion in Ukraine in February 2022 and considers prospects for post-war Arctic.collaboration. It finds that these conceptualisations when carefully contextualised helpto identify ideational underpinnings intertwined with national interests in policy textsand illuminate connections to societal beliefs held by Russian conservatives and indicateauthoritarian and illiberal practices guiding policymaking and implementation. Post-warinternational collaboration among climate scientists is viewed as worth pursuing, andperhaps essential, to mitigate Arctic warming.