Patrick Schembri presented a paper intitled “Is There Any Tradeoff Between Energy Security and Climate Stability for the Arctic Region? An exploration of the Potential Levers and Obstacles to the Required Energy Transition”, in the International Scientific and Practical Conference “Arctic Days in St. Petersburg-2021. International Cooperation in the Era of Climate Change”, 25-26 November 2021, Saint Petersburg, Russia.

This communication is part of a cooperation project with the [1] Saint Petersburg State Hydrometeorological University (RSHU) and the [2] Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) [2]. This cooperation is funded by the [3] Trianon Dialogue, whose secretariat is located at MGIMO.

Is There Any Tradeoff Between Energy Security and Climate Stability for the Arctic Region? An exploration of the Potential Levers and Obstacles to the Required Energy Transition

Abstract:

The Paris Agreement agenda urges to get rid of fossil fuels as soon as possible while responding to the constant increase in energy demand at the world scale. In a Special Report on the global impacts of global warming of 1,5°C above pre-industrial levels, the IPCC traces the different required roadmaps for the future GHG emissions. These adjusted carbon emissions pathways impose very challenging energy transitions for all countries. Moreover, the speed and scale of the required changes can lead to conflicts and other trade-offs between climate goals and development goals. In this context, the Arctic region appears to be a region richly endowed with natural resources, even though the conditions for their exploitation remain difficult. It is also a region particularly exposed to climate change. This communication aims at exploring the potential levers and obstacles to the energy transition for the Arctic Region. The approach used for the research is an analytical framework which does integrate the different dimensions of the so-called environmental security. Among the potential levers, the green hydrogen appears to be an interesting option.

Keywords:

Global warming, energy, environmental security, tradeoff, hydrogen, development

[1] The Moscow State Institute of International Relations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation is an internationally renowned Russian university on international relations and political science with a significant potential in the field of comparative and international law, world economy and international economic relations, public administration, energy diplomacy, ecology and environmental studies, management and transnational business, linguistics, sociology, public relations, culture and philosophy.

[2] The Russian State Hydrometeorological University (RSHU) is public research university located in St. Petersburg, Russia. RSHU has the status of the Regional Meteorological Training Center of World Meteorological Organization. This university offers courses at all levels of higher professional training leading to BA, MA, Specialist, Candidate (equivalent to PhD) and Doctor of Sciences degrees in environmental studies. The research programs include study of atmospheric and oceanic processes, atmosphere-ocean interaction, methods of weather analysis and forecasts, estimation of possible climate changes under the influence of natural and anthropogenous factors, creation of the diagnostic and forecasting models.

[3] The Trianon Dialogue is a Franco-Russian initiative, created on May 29, 2017 during the meeting between Presidents Emmanuel Macron and Vladimir Poutine in Versailles, aims to promote the development of scientific cooperation between Russia and France on different themes such as the city of the future, the education, agriculture and biodiversity, climate and environment, transport and mobility, energy transition and economic development issues.