Plagued by more floods, wildfires, and other natural events, Russia is warming over two times as fast as the world's average, its environment ministry revealed on Christmas day.
An environmental protection report from the government disclosed that Russian temperatures warmed by 0.42 degrees Celsius (32.76 degrees Fahrenheit) every decade from 1976, which translates to 2.5 times faster than the 0.17 degrees (32.31 degrees Fahrenheit) warming trend.
The ministry pointed to 569 phenomena in 2014, deemed the most number since they started monitoring. "Climate change leads to growth of dangerous meteorological phenomena," it commented in response to the report.
The ministry specifically mentioned the floods that ravaged the country in 2014 and the water deficit east of Lake Baikal this year, said to result in a "catastrophic rise in fires."
From Wildfires To Flash Floods
Fires surrounding Lake Baikal affected hundreds of square miles and reached nearby Irkutsk and Buryatia regions, forcing campers and residents to dig ditches. Ozone conditions leading to "self-igniting air" are even cited as a reason for the fires.
Baikal is facing never-before-seen water deficit, dropping to minimal levels that are speculated to be greatly caused by climate change. This is despite hydropower stations' minimal use of water, according to ministry spokesperson Nikolai Gudkov.
Experts particularly sounded the alarm on how climate change could wound energy infrastructure set on the Siberian permafrost, as Russia is generally warm and Far East and southern Siberian areas are undergoing harsh winters.
These and the deadly flash floods hitting Russia each year in the current decade had prompted the country's emergency situations ministry back in October to consider adopting a new game plan.
"Permafrost is receding, there are earthquakes where there weren't before, there are landslides, flash floods, blow-outs of gas condensate and so on," said Vladimir Puchkov, the emergencies minister.
Christmas Has Changed: Abnormal Warm Spells
The unusually warm temperature is currently altering winter life in Moscow, with the odd warm weather spell from Atlantic cyclones delaying the ski season and pushing city hall to close the ice rinks.
A long ice slide, the capital's main Christmas sight, melted in central Moscow four days after opening. A note by the attraction's entrance reads that it was due to the warm weather and safety issues when climbing up the slide. A nearby ice clock is also melting.
Temperature records in Moscow and its surrounding regions are broken each day in the past week, with 8.5 degrees Celsius (47.3 degrees Fahrenheit) experienced Thursday in the capital.
Cutting Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Prior to the agreement reached during the Paris climate change conference this month, Russia announced its intention to cut its emissions, with Sergei Donskoy, its natural resources minister, saying they will reduce emissions to 75 percent of 1990's volume.
Russia's total greenhouse gas emissions have not increased over the last five years. But not everyone seems on board with the idea.
Auto transport emissions, for instance, emerge as a concern – the report stated that half of the nation's transport base is still made up of vehicles with polluting, over-a-decade-old engines.
"Climate change is not very interesting to the public," said Galina Timchenko of Russian news website Meduza, adding that it will be tough to spend on low-priority areas amid the economic crisis.
