Economy-related green-house gases emissions and validation of the environmental Kuznets curve for Sakha Republic (Yakutia)

• Published in: Polar Science
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2020
• Subjects: Yakutia; Russia; Green house gases; Economy-related emissions; Environmental Kuznets curve; Sectoral and territorial differentiation; Sakha; Polar Science; Sakha Republic
• Online Access: https://nipr.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=repository_uri&item_id=15982; http://id.nii.ac.jp/1291/00015872/

The Kyoto (1997) and Paris (2015) protocols, signed by Russia, are the basis for the national low-carbon economy concepts development. Russian regions considerably differ in social and economic conditions, structure and scale of economy. Thus, the sectorial and territorial detailization on the emissions is relevant for the Sakha Republic (Yakutia), huge and sparsely populated region in the North East of Russia with developed extractive and fuel industries. We estimate the volume and performance of GHG emission in terms of key sectors for the 2013–2017 using the IPCC methodology. We discover that GHG emission in region does not exceed the determined by the Paris agreement level. Significant territorial differentiation of GHG emission between municipal districts and economic zones of Yakutia caused by climatic and economic factors: energy resources consumption, generating capacities, economic and population location. In contrast with Russia, the environmental Kuznets curve model has not been confirmed for Yakutia. Economic growth so far has been leading to an increase in emission; the region is far from reaching the EKC's maximum, despite the effect of reducing emissions alongside steadily growing GRP achieved prior to 2009.