Russia rubs its hands at the prospect of profit from climate change

Russia rubs its hands at the prospect of profit from climate change

RFE/RL reports:

When it wasn’t burning, Siberia was flooding.

The permafrost in the Far North continued to melt, and the Arctic ice kept breaking up.

But as a year that underscored the troubles in store for Russia from global warming comes to a close, Moscow is making plans to “adapt” to climate change — and seek to profit from it.

At his annual press conference, on December 19, President Vladimir Putin said that climate change poses “very serious” challenges for Russia.

“Our temperatures are rising 2 1/2 times faster than the global average,” Putin said. “We, as you know, are a northern country — 70 percent of our territory is located in the northern latitudes. We have entire cities above the Arctic Circle that are built on permafrost. If it begins to melt, just imagine what consequences may arise here for us. Very serious.” [Continue reading…]

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