The Eurasian Climate Brief Eurasian Climate Brief Team

This week, the Eurasian Climate Brief team heads to the Balkans, Bulgaria, to look into the cracks of the European Union's carbon market (a.k.a., EU ETS). In July 2021, an investigation by Eleonora Vio and Daniela Sala for the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) found that two Bulgarian power plants appeared to have under-declared their carbon emissions. If true, this would mean the EU ETS would have lost around 30 million euros in emissions tax. Months later in February,...

Climate change affects almost all sectors of human societies and life. One underrated and underreported consequence of the climate crisis is taking so-called climate migration - displacement due to climate change. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) predicts the number of "environmental migrants" in 2050 to be between 25 million and 1 billion.To find out more about this topic and, in particular, about one of the most affected regions - Central Asia - Angelina and Boris spoke to...

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Russian civil society has faced increasing repression at home. The environmental movement is no exception. While they kept communication channels open before the war, feeding the outside world precious data on the state of Russia's forests, permafrost and Arctic, large mainstream NGOs such as WWF, Greenpeace and Bellona have all been declared undesirable organisations in recent months. This makes their nation-level work near to impossible. Angelina Dav...

Air pollution has blighted Serbia for years. This is due to the country’s heavy reliance on coal, which in 2021 powered around 70% of its electricity. Old diesel-powered vehicles and authorities move to tamper with air pollution criteria have also been part of the problem. In turn, activists have taken to the streets and courts.Our correspondents Lizi Auskery and Milivoje Pantović discuss the situation with activists, whistle-blowers and health workers in order to assess the scale of th...

It’s been a year since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.The war has killed hundreds of thousands both sides included and displaced millions of Ukrainians, while plunging the rest of Europe into an energy crisis. Its environmental impacts have also been devastating, ranging from military chemical contamination and emissions to nuclear threats. In Russia, the government's swing towards totalitarianism has taken a severe toll on the climate and environmental movements. One s...

The Eurasian Climate Brief team gets together to look back on the top climate stories that have taken place during 2022 across Eastern Europe, Russia, the Caucasus and Central Asia. From to the consequences of Russia's war in Ukraine for the global energy market and climate movement, to the hopeful rise of Ukrainian climate activism and low-carbon strategies in Central Asia, join us for unique analysis of the region's trends and what they might hold in store for the year ahead.The Eurasian Cl...