Estimations of the Investment Costs for Transition to Carbon-Free Economy in Russia by 2060

The article contains an estimation of the investment costs that are necessary in the case of entire non-carbon energy transition in Russia by 2060. The evaluations are based on a data on the current energy consumption in Russia and its forecasts, with an assumption that all the energy needs are to be satisfied with only non-carbon energy carriers the authors used earlier when estimating capital expenditures for the global energy transition. The authors concluded that in Russia they amount some 400 trillion rubles, and these evaluations can be decreased to 160 trillion rubles in the case absorption of CO2 by the Russian forests under the medium estimations is taken into account.  The first case requires a sharp, 2-3-fold increase of investments into Russian energy sector, and the both cases require a cardinal change of their structure in favor of non-carbon power stations at the expense of the hydrocarbon sectors.

At the same time, maximal estimation of the forests’ absorption ability could meant that the goal of carbon neutrality has already achieved and it re-quires no additional investments.