RUSSIAN CLIMATE STRATEGY: IMITATING LEADERSHIP

The report analyzes Russia's climate policy, specifically the 2021 Low Carbon Strategy and the Law on Limiting Greenhouse Gas Emissions. It argues that these frameworks are 'imitational,' serving as a facade to maintain the international image of leadership while shielding fossil-fuel elites from actual emission reductions. Key failures identified include scientifically unfounded reliance on forest carbon sinks, a history of 'ghosted' energy-efficiency targets, and a lack of transparent verification or additionality criteria for carbon projects. The authors conclude that the current 'dual state' system, where informal elite interests override formal legislation, makes genuine carbon neutrality unlikely without systemic political and economic change.

• Russia's climate strategy is described as 'imitational,' where laws and regulations are adopted to maintain an international image of leadership while actually serving to 'dilute any effective carbon-reduction policies that may threaten the rents for the elites.'
• The 2021 Low Carbon Strategy targets carbon neutrality by 2060 but relies on an unrealistic projection of forest carbon sequestration, claiming a 1 Gt increase in absorption that contradicts scientific data suggesting sinks will actually decline.
• Russia has a history of 'ghosting' energy-efficiency targets; for example, a 2008 presidential decree to reduce GDP energy intensity by 40% by 2020 was not met, and the failure was never officially analyzed.
• The 2021 Law on Limiting Greenhouse Gas Emissions is deemed 'meaningless' by some critics because it lacks independent verification for emissions data and provides no economic incentives or emission caps for companies.
• Russian 'climate projects' fail to meet international standards for 'additionality,' meaning they may include commercially attractive projects that would have happened anyway, potentially increasing total global emissions if used as offsets.
• There is a significant funding gap for the energy transition; while the government estimates annual investments of 1% to 2% of GDP, other estimates from VTB Capital suggest a total requirement of 479.8 trillion roubles, and current investments in fossil energy remain at least 10 times higher than those in energy saving.

APA

Korppoo, A., & Alisson, A. (2023). RUSSIAN CLIMATE STRATEGY: IMITATING LEADERSHIP. Climate Strategies. https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Russian-Climate-Strategy-Imitating-Leadership.pdf

Chicago

Korppoo, Anna, and Alex Alisson. RUSSIAN CLIMATE STRATEGY: IMITATING LEADERSHIP. Climate Strategies, 2023. https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Russian-Climate-Strategy-Imitating-Leadership.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Korppoo |first1=Anna |last2=Alisson |first2=Alex |title=RUSSIAN CLIMATE STRATEGY: IMITATING LEADERSHIP |publisher=Climate Strategies |date=2023 |url=https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Russian-Climate-Strategy-Imitating-Leadership.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{korppoo2023russian, author = {Korppoo, Anna and Alisson, Alex}, title = {{RUSSIAN CLIMATE STRATEGY: IMITATING LEADERSHIP}}, institution = {Climate Strategies}, year = {2023}, url = {https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Russian-Climate-Strategy-Imitating-Leadership.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }