Top Arctic stories of the week, 18-22 October 2021

Below is a recap of this week’s posts by Alexander Stotskiy (CEO, Project Office for Arctic Development) analyzing major international, national and regional events and trends in the Arctic.

Polar aviation discussed by State Council

Challenges and issues facing Russia’s Polar aviation and small airlines were discussed at a session of the State Council on designing the country’s transport strategy until 2030. Air transport is known to be crucial for the survival and development of remote communities in the Arctic. However, for various reasons, at present it is widely regarded as a weak spot in Russia’s transportation network. Read more…

President Putin’s “Arctic” directives published

The presidential directives issued as a follow-up to the Eastern Economic Forum held in September this year were published at the Kremlin’s official website. Many of them concern the Russian Arctic. For instance, the Government and Rosatom were instructed to take steps to inaugurate by 2022 a year-round transit cargo line at the NSR. The directives also provide for building three tidal power plants in the Russian Arctic and Far East and launching a permafrost monitoring system. Read more…

Russia Introduces carbon credit market

The Russian Ministry for Economic Development came up with a draft governmental decree defining a procedure for carbon credit allocation and verification of so-called climate projects. The document lays a foundation for the carbon management system to be established in Russia along with this country’s carbon market, a platform enabling producers to gain profit from their environmental programs. Read more…

Norwegian-Russian Joint Fishery Commission sets fishing quotas for the Barents Region

The Norwegian-Russian Joint Fishery Commission set the 2022 fishing quotas for the Barents and Norwegian Seas. The new quotas for cod and haddock, the main fishing species of the region, are down by as much as 20 percent as compared to those of 2021. However, they are still on a historically high level, as the 2021 quotas were about 20 percent higher than in 2020 and 2019, when cod fishing peaked. Read more…

Energy transition discussed at Russian Energy Week

The Russian Energy Week, an international forum on energy and global energy affairs, was held in Moscow. About 2,500 people from more than 80 countries took part in this major event. For obvious reasons, the conference focused on energy transition and the fuel crisis affecting the industrialized countries both in Europe and Asia. A special emphasis was also made on the role of the Arctic in the global energy context. Read more…