Overview of International Standards and Russian Legislation on Climate Change Adaptation

The article provides a brief overview of international legal standards and Russian legislation in the field of climate change adaptation. Currently, states are adopting the so-called “climate adaptation plans” and “strategies”, each of which has its own specifics depending on the country, economics, population and the challenges they are caused by. The author aims to reveal the key provisions of the Convention on Climate Change, the Kyoto Protocol, the Paris Agreement in the context of climate change adaptation, the role of UNEP in the UN system on this issue, as well as the standard forms of “national plans”, which are proposed as framework by international organizations. It is concluded that the majority of international treaties do not attempt to impose a single standard of climate adaptation commitments for all countries without exception, but adopt a flexible approach for specific groups of countries. A review of existing practices on this issue is made, depending on the climatic zone and existing domestic institutions. A separate part is devoted to the Russian legal system in the field of climate adaptation, from legal support to the stages of implementation of the national plan.