The acute problems of climate change, greenhouse gas emissions, and energy efficiency related issues are widely discussed in the mass media in Russia. As the modern media react faster to trendy aspects of our life, the Internet portals and newsmakers are much more deeply involved and take more progressive positions on information dissemination than traditional print media or TV channels.
Broadcast Media
In comparison with the availability of climate change-related information via the Internet and the printed media, there is almost zero information on the Russian TV. There is just one RBC-TV channel (RBC developed “+1” project) with one program, Levchenko.Rakurs, which features climate change with a discussion of experts from time to time. All other mention of climate change on TV is occasional.
Print Media
At the moment there is no print media channel in Russia that is solely devoted to the climate change or sustainability issues. However, this issue often appears in several newspapers and magazines. These are the business newspapers Kommersant and Vedomosti that publish materials on carbon projects, GHG emissions assessment and regulation, energy efficiency and renewable energy, as all of this is related to business efficiency and obligations.
The magazine Egologia i Pravo (Ecology and Law) supported by NGO Bellona publishes articles on climate change and forest capacity, the Russian position on the Paris agreement and other relevant issues. The newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta (Independent Newspaper) regularly issues its thematic supplement NG-Energy with analytical articles by various authors.
There are several well-known experts who are active in climate change publications. They include, among others, Mikhail Yulkin (General Director of CCGS, LLC and Angelina Davydova, Head of Russian-German Bureau of Environmental Information and environmental journalist), Georgiy Safonov (Director of the Centre for Environmental Economics and Natural Resources of Higher School of Economics).
There are several print media that publish both positive and opposite opinions in respect to climate change. Such media as Regnum, Rossiyskaya Gazeta (Russian Newspaper) and Novyie Izvestiya sometimes include articles which neglect the facts on the climate change, or are about the relationship between GHG emissions and the changes occurring in the world climate.
Online Media
There are several interesting resources on the Internet that cover the environmental issues focusing on climate and renewable energy. The portal Kislorod.Life (“Oxygen.Life”) is an informative channel with easy and clear navigation using hashtags. There are a lot of articles about Russian climate change specialists as well as regular overviews of international news on the subject. Another special portal is the Klimat Rossii (“the Climate of Russia”) aimed at informing the community about Russian climate policy, carbon projects, and improvement of climate change public awareness.
At the end of 2016, a special Internet project +1, was created by the largest Russian media groups TASS, Kommersant and RBC. Each of the participants has developed a special section on their sites devoted to social investments and communications. This is an unprecedented joint move in the Russian mass media uniting efforts of significant players in promoting environmental and social responsibilities. The Project, +1, is supported by the Association of Members of Social Investment and Social Communications. The Project will help to create a special united space for communications within business circles, the state and authorities, institutional and education organizations, NGOs and the community.
The best journalists, reporters, business representatives, experts, and bloggers write their articles on environmental and social issues for this project, and many of these articles are related to climate change and energy efficiency. +1 Internet sites are already recognizable and well-known by the general public.
There are also special energy and high technology related portals that frequently publish articles and overviews on renewable energy and technologies related to sustainable development and climate change. They are RenEn, EnergyFresh and Hightech.
Environmental NGOs such as the Russian Social Ecological Union and Bellona regularly publish thematic articles and news on their sites and play their own important role in improving awareness by the general public about climate change issues.