Photo courtesy of Alexxx1979 via Flickr.
This historic lawsuit against the Russian state demands reduction in its greenhouse gas emissions.
By Lily Benn ’24
Staff Writer
Earlier this month, Russian activists filed the first climate-related lawsuit against the Russian government. According to The Guardian, these activists are “demanding that the government take stronger action over the climate crisis.”
The New Climate Institute’s Climate Change Performance Index rates Russia’s climate change performance in the “very low” category. This index compares how countries are working to mitigate climate change in categories including renewable energy, greenhouse gas emissions, climate policy and energy use. Excerpts of the lawsuit published in a U.S. News article states that Russia’s average temperature has risen by 2.5 degrees celsius over the past 50 years while the world average is one degree Celsius. The article goes on to explain that this fails to meet the goal set by the Paris Agreement to keep the average temperature increase below two degrees celsius “in hopes of averting the worst consequences of climate change.”
Individuals behind the lawsuit include Arshak Makichyan and Pavel Sulyandziga, according to U.S. News. Makichyan is an anti-war climate activist known to be Russia’s “lone climate activist,” according to The Guardian. Sulyandziga is the chairperson of the Board of the International Development Fund of Indigenous Peoples in Russia. According to U.S. News, they are among the 18 individuals listed as plaintiffs, as well as Ekozashita, an eco-defense organization, and Moscow Helsinki Group, Russia’s oldest human-rights organization.
The current pledges made by the Russian government are to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 70 percent of 1990 levels by 2030 and 20 percent of 1990 levels by 2050, according to U.S. News. Activist groups filing the lawsuit believe this will not be enough to reduce Russia’s impact on climate change.
In an interview with The Guardian, the plaintiffs’ spokesperson Grigory Vaypan expressed that there is a need for “the court to recognise that these [climate] targets are manifestly insufficient to fulfill Russia’s obligation to mitigate climate change, and order the government to set new, Paris-compliant targets.” U.S. News reported that the activists declared that emissions should instead be reduced to 31 percent of 1990 levels by 2030 and five percent of 1990 levels by 2050.
It is historically significant for the Russian government to be involved with this high-level court case, a U.S. News article said. The article states that this lawsuit was the first of its kind to be accepted by a Russian court. This is especially notable with their past reviews from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, which state they have “one of the worst climate change mitigation efforts in the world.”
The CSIS remarked in the March 2021 article that Russia is resistant to “internal policy changes related to climate change.” It is also dangerous for many of these activists to be speaking out against the Russian government, The Guardian said. Arshak Makichyan told The Guardian that this is more than a case for climate policy — it is also a lawsuit directly contradicting the Russian government. Makichyan and many other activists filing this case are also anti-war activists, and the Russian government has recently been monitoring and eliminating opposition movements in Russia since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the article said. Makichyan himself has since moved to Germany, as he believes the country has become dangerous and called it a dictatorship.
According to The Guardian, Russia faces deadly and widespread consequences of climate change, “ranging from severe health impacts due to recent heatwaves and outbreaks of vector-borne diseases, to increased exposure to anthrax disease and infrastructure damage due to melting permafrost.” According to an NPR interview with Joshua Yaffa, two-thirds of Russia sits atop a layer of permafrost, which is melting at an extreme rate. Yaffa explains that permafrost melting can destabilize land which cities and communities build on. It is also a global issue, he said, as the melting releases more carbon dioxide and methane. For The Guardian, Makichyan remarked, “I don’t understand how Russia will negotiate any climate deals … they have been lying to people about the climate crisis.” He also stated that by pushing this lawsuit through the government, more people will be able to see the truth about the Russian government and how they have been neglecting the suffering caused by climate change.