On May 23, an expert warned that rising temperatures could make Moscow uninhabitable, forcing Russia to relocate its capital to Siberia.
Aleksey Korkorin, head of the climate and energy department at the International Conservation Organization in Russia, stated that while global “carbon neutrality” could be achieved by the 2060s, global temperatures are currently rising by 2 to 2.5 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels.
The Kremlin.
According to the expert, the increase in temperature will lead to more frequent large-scale heatwaves.
“Heat that we used to experience once every ten years will happen every three years. You can live, but you must find ways to adapt,” Korkorin told RIA Novosti.
Korkorin also mentioned that in the worst-case scenario, global temperatures could rise an additional 4.5 to 5 degrees Celsius before the world achieves the “carbon neutrality” goal. With such an increase, summers would become extremely hot, and for Russia, this scenario could necessitate relocating the capital from Moscow.
“It would be a different life, which means that in the summer, it might become uninhabitable in a city like Moscow. The new capital could be Krasnoyarsk or Novosibirsk,” Korkorin referenced the two major cities in Siberia. He also acknowledged that the likelihood of rapidly deteriorating climatic conditions remains quite fragile.
Many climatologists have expressed skepticism about Korkorin’s concerns. Aleksander Chernokulsky at the Russian Institute of Atmospheric Physics remarked, “the likelihood of heatwaves occurring more frequently is real, and Siberia is not an exception.”
