Climatologist from St Petersburg University: 2023 saw the warmest period in the Earth’s climatic history

As Artem Pavlovskii noted, our country is a permanent party to all international agreements: from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to the Paris Agreement. The climatologist also added that according to a number of estimates, 2023 was the warmest period in the Earth’s climatic history.

The temperature conditions that were observed in 2023 corresponded to the climatic conditions of the last very large Mikulin interglacial, which came about 120,000 years ago. This is how much the Earth’s climate system has warmed since then.

Artem Pavlovskii, Acting Head of the Department of Climatology and Environmental Monitoring at St Petersburg University

At present, the Russian Federation has developed a national climate change adaptation plan, sectoral adaptation plans at the level of ministries, and corporate plans for major corporations. Additionally, regional plans are being developed for most of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. Their goal is to implement projects aimed at reducing the damage caused by climate change and taking advantage of emerging economic opportunities in the new conditions. 

Artem Pavlovskii said that at the end of 2023, a similar plan was approved for St Petersburg, which identified the city’s key climate risks, including an increase in the frequency of sea surge floods. 

In 2023, the Agency for Strategic Initiatives and Plekhanov University also organised an academic programme to train employees of executive bodies of state authorities of all constituent entities of the Russian Federation. The programme will contribute to the successful implementation of climate change adaptation measures. Scientists from St Petersburg, including Artem Pavlovskii, Acting Head of the Department of Climatology of Environmental Monitoring at St Petersburg University, took part in its development.