Russia’s war in Ukraine chills Arctic research

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Feb 23, 2024 View in browser   By Rebekah Alvey Presented by CONSOL Energy A Russian officer stands near a cargo plane on the Alexandra Land island near Nagurskoye, Russia. Once a home mostly to polar bears, Russia's northernmost military outpost is bristling with missiles and radar. | Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP With the longest Arctic coastline of any country at 15,000 miles, Russia is key to global climate research. But Russia’s invasion of Ukraine two years ago has disrupted international research efforts, pausing scientific inquiry as the effects of global warming speed up in the Arctic, writes Chelsea Harvey. Over the past two decades, U.S. and Russian researchers working on either side of the Bering Strait have shared vital information about the heat-trapping carbon dioxide and methane released into the atmosphere by the Arctic’s thawing permafrost. U.S. and Russian collaborators traveled easily to visit field sites and establish monitoring systems. And up until about a year ago, an Alaska-based scientist could still communicate and send funding for fieldwork to a counterpart in Russia. But near the start of 2023, the war in Ukraine caught up with climate science. Fear of crossing a line and being labeled a foreign agent in Vladimir Putin’s Russia chilled research. Permafrost science can handle some gaps in data, but a long-term hole from such a significant area of climate study could be a problem, researchers told Chelsea. “Hopefully the gap will be not that long, and everybody hopes it will be ending soon,” said Alaska-based scientist Vladimir Romanovsky. “But nobody knows.” Warming across the Arctic is happening as much as four times faster than the global average. And Arctic air masses that push south over the United States have an outsize role in shaping the continent’s weather patterns. Other Arctic research has suffered from the war in Ukraine, which began two years ago Saturday. In June 2022, the White House said it would “wind down” scientific and technological cooperation with Russia. The National Science Foundation had funded several projects with Russian collaboration, including studies on the Arctic Ocean, permafrost, melting sea ice, marine transportation, infrastructure development, Arctic wildfires and climate resilience in Arctic communities. Some U.S. universities followed suit, and the European Union limited cooperation with Russian institutes. That left a hole for climate monitoring systems like the INTERACT Arctic network, which has paused about half of its research stations because they are in Russia. Cooperation among Russia, the United States and other members of the Arctic Council, which was created to maintain international cooperation in the remote region, including on climate and environmental research, has gotten rockier. Russia last month threatened to abandon the council “if its activities do not correspond to Russian interests.” And under Putin, Russia has maneuvered to strengthen its position in the Arctic, including striking a 2021 deal with China to jointly develop infrastructure in the region.   It's Friday — thank you for tuning in to POLITICO's Power Switch. I'm your host, Rebekah Alvey. Power Switch is brought to you by the journalists behind E&E News and POLITICO Energy. Send your tips, comments, questions to ralvey@eenews.net.   SUBSCRIBE TO GLOBAL PLAYBOOK: Don’t miss out on POLITICO’s Global Playbook, the newsletter taking you inside pivotal discussions at the most influential gatherings in the world, including WEF in Davos, Milken Global in Beverly Hills, to UNGA in NYC and many more. Suzanne Lynch delivers the world's elite and influential moments directly to you. Stay in the global loop. SUBSCRIBE NOW.     Listen to today’s POLITICO Energy podcast Today in POLITICO Energy’s podcast: Zack Colman breaks down the challenges facing the Biden administration's plans for a transition to electric vehicles.   A message from CONSOL Energy: What are the consequences of transitioning to renewable energy too quickly? Are we hastily moving to an uncertain future filled with energy tradeoffs? Not So FastTM, presented by CONSOL Energy, is a public awareness campaign seeking to inform the public about the alarming consequences of abandoning fossil fuels like coal at the risk of our health, prosperity, and national security. Learn why coal still matters at theCOALhardtruth.com.   Power Centers President Joe Biden tours a computer chip factory in Bay City, Michigan, in 2022 with SK Siltron CSS CEO Jianwei Dong. | Patrick Semansky/AP Money for Michigan The Department of Energy has awarded conditional loans for two companies to build out the electric vehicle supply chain in Michigan, writes Brian Dabbs. The two projects could create nearly 700 jobs in the historic auto manufacturing hub and a key battleground state in the 2024 presidential election. One of the projects will produce silicon carbide wafers, which can improve EV charging times and range. The other will produce EV battery packs and is expected to support enough cars to displace 71,000 metric tons of carbon emissions. The loophole keeping Putin's pockets full Despite sweeping bans and sanctions on Russian oil, the European Union spent €1 billion on fuel purchases, strengthening Vladimir Putin’s war chest, writes Victor Jack. This equates to about 35 million barrels of refined fuels, primarily diesel. While the EU bans nearly all Russian oil imports, countries can still legally buy it so long as it’s first refined into fuels elsewhere. The loophole has led to a flow of Russian fuel entering the EU through India and Turkey. The EU is expected to unveil its 14th sanctions package, that will likely aim to tighten measures against Russian oil. LNG policy rider Bipartisan members of the Energy Export Caucus are requesting policy riders for the upcoming spending bills to block President Joe Biden’s liquefied natural gas export approval pause, writes Nico Portuondo. Lawmakers led by Republican Rep. Carol Miller of West Virginia called for a rider prohibiting funds from being used to modify public interest review standards for LNG export approvals.   A message from CONSOL Energy:   In Other News Costly disasters About 2.5 million Americans were forced to leave their homes due to weather-related disasters in 2023, according to recent census data. Last year brought a record-breaking 28 billion dollar disasters. Chicago's geothermal goals Chicago environmental justice groups are betting on geothermal to solve issues with heating and cooling homes more efficiently.   A message from CONSOL Energy: Today’s modern world runs on energy. Every facet of society—industry, commerce, healthcare, our communities large and small—depends on access to affordable power. This is a reality none of us can evade, yet power is the one necessity most of us take for granted. As the U.S. continues its rush to renewable energy, we are now seeing the unintended consequences of not having a realistic plan in place to help manage this transition effectively. Learn about the economic hurdles, technical challenges, and lifestyle trade offs of moving away too quickly from fossil-based natural resources, like coal, in favor of intermittent power sources, like wind and solar. Not So FastTM, presented by CONSOL Energy, is a public awareness campaign that advocates for a measured, analytical, and moral approach to our nation’s energy policies. Join us at theCOALhardtruth.com.   Subscriber Zone A showcase of some of our best subscriber content. Efforts to regulate the release of a carcinogenic gas by Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency could be at odds with the medical device industry and the Food and Drug Administration. A liquefied natural gas exporter is moving “full steam ahead” on plans for two facilities in Texas and Louisiana, despite the DOE pause on approvals. During a recent earnings call, Cheniere CEO Jack Fusco said it was “appalling” that new scientific studies are needed on LNG. The Interior Department has approved a New York offshore wind project that has the potential to power over 1 million homes. The developer still needs to win a state contract to pay for the electricity. That's it for today, folks. Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend!   YOUR TICKET INSIDE THE GOLDEN STATE POLITICAL ARENA: California Playbook delivers the latest intel, buzzy scoops and exclusive coverage from Sacramento and Los Angeles to Silicon Valley and across the state. Don't miss out on the daily must-read for political aficionados and professionals with an outsized interest in California politics, policy and power. 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