On December 3, at 12:30 Moscow time (GMT+3), the Valdai Club held an online discussion, titled “The Global Political Climate: Will the Green Agenda Become a Priority of the Post-Covid World?”, together with the presentation of a new report “Climate Policy in a Global Risk Society”.
The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated that even a relative decrease in human impact on nature leads to quick and positive consequences for the environment and climate. This has become the reason for the revitalisation of civil climate projects around the world. Their main message is that now, at the turning point of the pandemic, the world community should seriously deal with the “green transformation”. Representatives of the IMF and the International Energy Agency believe that governments have a unique opportunity to “reset” their economies and make them greener.
At the recent G20 summit, all member countries, with the exception of the United States, reaffirmed their commitment to the Paris Agreement — the main international document in the field of global climate policy. US President-elect Joseph Biden has pledged that the US will return to the deal the day after his inauguration. At this year’s Annual Meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club, Russian President Vladimir Putin said climate change “requires real action and much more attention,” and in late November Russia presented its plan to cut emissions by 2030 under the Paris Agreement. The leading countries in terms of emissions into the atmosphere — China and India — promise to mobilise their forces and minimise the harmful impact of their industries on the environment. The EU seeks to incorporate the obligations of the Paris Agreement into the union’s legislation, but this leads to internal divisions.
Will the climate change issue be firmly incorporated into the global agenda? To what extent are states ready to move from declarations to real climate policy? Is a “green” reset of economies feasible? What place in the world of “green transformation” can Russia take? The participants in the discussion answered these and other questions.