Climate Policy Constraints: Yet Another Negative Reverberation of Russia's War in Ukraine?

Abstract

Prior to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Russian government was taking modest but meaningful steps to develop its domestic climate policy, prompted in part by incentives and pressures from the international market. Since then, however, Russia's war in Ukraine has heightened obstacles to addressing climate change: it has reinforced the importance of fossil fuel exports, further stifled climate activism at home, and increased impediments to international cooperation. The war’s longer-term impact on decarbonization remains uncertain.