Analyzing the Impact of Climate Change on Energy Security Policy of Russia in the Arctic Region

Abstract

Of all topics on the international political agenda, climate change is regarded as one of the most important issue. Climate change threats the ecosystem of the Earth by putting the existing environmental settings in its regions at stake. The Arctic region experiences more of the effects of it when compared with the other regions of the Earth. In fact, Climate change denudated the Arctic region for the first time in recorded history. Moreover, the climate change made possible to inquire and exploit the resources in the seabed of the Arctic Ocean. So, the importance of the region, in the eyes of littoral states and great powers, has increased slightly since Arctic region holds great amount of untouched energy and mineral resources along with navigable shipping routes like Northern Sea Route (NSR) and North West Passage (NWP). These resources and routes whet the appetite of the littoral states to utilize those for their interests while arising boundary issues among them. Russia, as one of the littoral state, perceived climate change as a blessing and wanted to establish its Arctic energy security policy to benefit from energy resources and new maritime route in the Arctic as soon as possible. In this regard, Russia followed her Realism dominant security policies for the Arctic region to secure its borders, NSR and interests. However, Russia widen its Realist base of security policies with Liberal assumptions for energy and environment related issues while establishing energy security policy towards the region. It is argued in the thesis that this combination created a hybrid base for Russia to pursue for its Arctic energy security policy. Therefore, this thesis aims to inquire and answer the impact of climate change on the energy security of Russia in the Arctic region.