War, sanctions and climate: The forces redefining Russian energy

About this episode

This episode explores how the war in Ukraine and climate realities are reshaping Russia's energy sector and strategy.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has fundamentally reshaped its energy sector, with oil and gas exports diverted from Europe to Asia while soaring military spending strains the state budget. The war has stalled Russia's decarbonization plans and reduced investment in cleaner energy projects. But with climate change impacts increasingly visible across Russia's vast territory, the question looms: How will Moscow adapt its energy infrastructure? And what potential exists if the government shifts priorities toward energy adaptation? In this episode of Energy Evolution, host Eklavya Gupte and Rosemary Griffin , managing editor at Platts, part of S&P Global Energy, examine how geopolitical conflict and climate realities are creating a crossroads moment for one of the world's largest energy producers. First, Tatiana Mitrova , fellow at Columbia University's Center on Global Energy Policy, explains how the war in Ukraine is affecting Russia's energy strategy and why the country's enormous renewable energy potential remains largely untapped. The conversation then turns to Eoin Quill , researcher at Climate Analytics, who puts Russia's greenhouse gas emissions in global context, examines…

People in this episode

Host: Eklavya Gupte

Guests: Rosemary Griffin, Tatiana Mitrova, Eoin Quill

Topics covered

• geopolitical conflict
• energy infrastructure
• climate change
• Russia's energy strategy
• renewable energy potential
• greenhouse gas emissions

Keywords

• Russia
• energy sector
• Ukraine
• decarbonization
• military spending
• renewable energy
• greenhouse gas emissions
• energy adaptation

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Columbia University, Climate Analytics

Places: Russia, Ukraine, Arctic

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