All news

Global warming effects most felt in Russia — Academy of Sciences president

"Russia is a kind of ‘kitchen’ of global weather because we record warming of 1.5-2 degrees in Russia, and of 3 degrees in our Arctic seas", Alexander Sergeyev reports

MOSCOW, July 30. /TASS/. Serious studies into global change are needed in Russia because the impact of climate change is clearer to see there, President of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexander Sergeyev said on Friday. 

"Russia is a kind of ‘kitchen’ of global weather because we record warming of 1.5-2 degrees in Russia, and of 3 degrees in our Arctic seas. It is more than anywhere on Earth. If, say, nothing has changed in the Antarctic, with the average temperature remaining the same, the Arctic has seen serious changes. In this context, Russia is a country that is expected to study these processes and offer solutions," he said at a conference on carbon neutrality.

He recalled that in the 1990-2000s it was believed that global warming was a temporary phenomenon and the planet would be able to adapt and return to its former state. But the tendency has not reversed with time, even forcing many skeptics to admit that the climate is changing, he noted.

"There are things we don’t understand fully because the Earth’s energy sector accounts for a miserable share in human-made processes. <…> It looks like we have ultimately kicked off some new processes for our planet and must look into the possibility that it may not adapt to these changes by itself, without our assistance. This is the prevailing point of view now both among scientists and politicians across the globe," he explained.