Russia has traditionally pursued a properly articulated but low-cost policy on climate change and ecology more generally. Putin’s participation in the climate summit called by Biden in April 2021 was correct on discourse but scarce on commitment, even if it was gradually dawning on Moscow that in order to make its chairmanship in the Arctic Council a success, it needed to develop a more impactful agenda. What focused the attention of the Russian leadership was the EU’s plan to introduce a “carbon tax” (officially known as the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism) on goods produced in countries with lower environmental standards. According to initial estimates, Russia would have to pay as much as $1.2 billion from 2026, more than any other country. Moscow has feebly condemned “green” thrusts in EU policy as malign attempts to curb Russia’s development of hydrocarbons in the Arctic while also eyeing its fast-growing scope of necessary investments for erasing the label “dirty” from Russian oil and gas.
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