Green development of Russian coal-intensive regions: opportunities and innovations

The paper argues that while coal is insignificant to Russia's national GDP, it is critical to regional economies like Kuzbass. It criticizes official diversification plans for continuing to rely on extractive industries and instead proposes five innovative low-carbon pathways: utilizing abandoned mines for geothermal heating and energy storage, developing wind and solar PV, producing solid biofuels, establishing Green Special Economic Zones (GSEZ), and supporting small business entrepreneurship.

• Coal mining has a minimal impact on the national Russian economy but is a primary economic driver in specific regions; in 2019, coal rent was only 0.4% of Russia's GDP, yet coal mining accounted for 27.2% of the gross regional product in Kuzbass.
• Official Russian energy and diversification strategies largely contradict global decarbonization trends by planning for increased coal production. The Energy Strategy until 2035 (ES-2035) targets coal mining volumes of 485-668 million metric tons by 2035, an increase of 21%-66%.
• Abandoned coal mines can be repurposed for low-carbon value creation, including the use of heat pumps to extract geothermal energy from mine water for district heating, and the conversion of shafts into pumped hydroelectric energy storage or isothermal compressed air energy storage (iCAES).
• Solar and wind energy are techno-economically viable in many Russian coal regions. In seven coal mining regions, solar PV is already economically competitive for small businesses, with LCOE in Zabaykalsky Krai starting from 4.2 eurocents/kWh, which is lower than grid power.
• There is significant potential for an export-oriented solid biofuel industry using wood residues from existing timber industries in regions like Krasnoyarsk Krai and Irkutsk Oblast, provided that sustainability principles are followed to avoid biodiversity loss.
• The authors recommend establishing a Green Special Economic Zone (GSEZ) in Kuzbass to attract foreign investment and create a hub for renewable energy equipment manufacturing, symbiotic industrial relations, and sustainable tourism.
• Entrepreneurship is underdeveloped in most Russian coal regions; in 13 out of 18 coal mining regions, the number of small enterprise employees per 1,000 people is below the national average.

APA

Lanshina, T., & Slivyak, V. (2021). Green development of Russian coal-intensive regions: opportunities and innovations. Climate Strategies. https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/CS_Policy-Brief-Russian-Coal3-FINAL.pdf

Chicago

Lanshina, Tatiana, and Vladimir Slivyak. Green development of Russian coal-intensive regions: opportunities and innovations. Climate Strategies, 2021. https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/CS_Policy-Brief-Russian-Coal3-FINAL.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Lanshina |first1=Tatiana |last2=Slivyak |first2=Vladimir |title=Green development of Russian coal-intensive regions: opportunities and innovations |publisher=Climate Strategies |date=September 2021 |url=https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/CS_Policy-Brief-Russian-Coal3-FINAL.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{lanshina2021green, author = {Lanshina, Tatiana and Slivyak, Vladimir}, title = {{Green development of Russian coal-intensive regions: opportunities and innovations}}, institution = {Climate Strategies}, year = {2021}, month = sep, url = {https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/CS_Policy-Brief-Russian-Coal3-FINAL.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }