Russia will only benefit from a global energy transition

According to Georgy Safonov, Director of the Center for Environmental Economics and Natural Resources at the Higher School of Economics, the global energy transition to a low-carbon economy can lead to an increase in the world economy and the welfare of the population at a small cost of 1% of GDP per year, mainly on capital investments that stimulate economic growth and development.
Russia needs to tap into the dormant energy efficiency potential. Several scenarios were developed for decarbonization by 2050, which showed that it is necessary to involve not only measures in the energy sector, but also other opportunities to reduce the impact on the climate.

According to Safonov, modeling carried out by the world's leading scientists has shown the possibility of reducing by 2050 greenhouse gas emissions by 75–90% from the level of 2010. Russia can maintain the status of an energy power, no longer hydrocarbon, but "green", helping to save the planet from a climate catastrophe.

Safonov emphasized: “The potential for increasing energy efficiency remains unused, since the target of reducing the energy intensity of GDP by 40 % by 2020, set in 2008–2009, has not been achieved”. At the same time, there are technologies in Russia that make it possible to use the huge potential of geothermal energy, low-grade heat (which can be used by heat pumps), solar, wind and tidal energy, forest and agricultural biomass.

It is possible to install about 100 GW of tidal power plants in the region of the western coast of Kamchatka, which is almost half of the entire energy system of the Russian Federation. As Safonov added, according to experts from the Krzhizhanovsky Energy Institute, the technical potential of renewable energy sources (RES) in Russia exceeds 25 times the entire annual volume of primary energy production, but so far (excluding large hydroelectric power plants) it gives only 0.2–0.3% of production.

According to the expert, Russia needs to allocate more funds to programs for transferring transport to carbon-free technologies. It is also necessary to accelerate the program of replacing traditional building materials with carbon-free technologies. “The production of cement, brick, steel, aluminum, and plastic is associated with huge greenhouse gas emissions. Wooden house building, on the other hand, has a negative carbon footprint, "depositing" CO₂ for many years," stated Safonov.

But at the same time, efforts will be required not only by state organizations, but also by private enterprises to preserve and increase forest resources.