MOSCOW, March 25. /TASS/. Climate issues are taking centerstage for scientists today, pushing back problems linked to the coronavirus pandemic, President of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) Alexander Sergeyev told a roundtable discussion Thursday.

"Today, a different task is standing tall, not the pandemic or Covid one. It is a task where the scientific presence is vital, it is linked to the so-called climate agenda," Sergeyev said.

According to him, what’s happening in the world now, particularly decarbonization and emission reduction by 2030, are enormous tasks faced by science, and it is crucial to focus efforts on countering the tangible threat of catastrophic climate change.

"It seems that we are almost on top of Covid. We need to prepare broader to react to next viruses. However, the scientific tasks, tasks of the climate agenda are the ones where all eyes are on science again. I don’t dismiss the possibility that they will be of the same magnitude as the tasks that science was addressing during the pandemic," the RAS president added.