Trapped in Coal Dust

How Yakutia suffers from the climate crisis and coal pollution—while ramping up production of the dirtiest fuel on the planet

Last year, Yakutia set a coal production record in Russia’s Far East, mining an unprecedented 52 million tons of black fuel. Russia’s pivot from West to East promises new export opportunities for local coal producers, who are now aiming for even bigger records. In one of the coldest places on Earth, coal also heats the homes of Yakut residents themselves.

But the climate crisis driven by coal combustion is bringing abnormal heat, permafrost degradation, and catastrophic wildfires to the region, posing a particular threat to Indigenous rural communities. At the same time, efforts to combat climate change are pushing local authorities toward greener development—an agenda fundamentally at odds with further coal expansion.

We explore how the clash between extractive ambitions and climate goals plunges Yakutia into cognitive dissonance.

This is the third article in a series on how major infrastructure projects in the Russian Arctic affect nature and the climate. Previous pieces examined the aging fleet on the Northern Sea Route and a new nuclear gamble in a Chukotka bay.

Dust in the Lungs

Exposed to the winds of the Arctic Ocean, the Arctic districts (ulusy) of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) are among the remotest from the “mainland.” Across a territory larger than Mongolia, only 6% of Yakut live, with a population density 1,500 times lower than in central Russia. For everyone combined, there are just 40 pharmacies, 13 restaurants, and a single supermarket. And there are also life-saving boiler houses, where coal is the primary fuel.

As a result, during the long polar winter, black coal dust settles onto the white Arctic snow. In the settlement of Zyryanka, near a coal open-pit mine of the same name, toxic particles cover roughly a third of the densely populated area and pollute the Yasachnaya River, according to a 2024 study. Dust blows in from coal stockpiles, while local coal-fired boiler houses contaminate the air with soot, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen and sulfur compounds. Zyryanka coal is also transported thousands of kilometers to other Arctic settlements in Yakutia, and during transport and reloading, dust is carried by Arctic winds at speeds of up to 20 meters per second.

Through satellite image analysis, Arctida found that flumes of coal dust blanket other parts of Yakutia as well—where coal is mined, loaded, or burned. In the Arctic settlement of Batagay in Verkhoyansk District, home to about 4,000 people, boiler houses spread toxic dust hundreds of meters around them. In Dzhebariki-Khaya, a village of about 1,000 people in Tomponsky District, coal particles settle in a black layer along the road from the local open-pit mine, on the Aldan River, and near homes close to the boiler house.

In southern Yakutia, where 98% of the region’s coal is extracted, mining companies have repeatedly polluted local rivers.

In 2019, concentrations of suspended solids in snow near the coal processing plant of the Yakutugol mining company exceeded background levels by 21 to 294 times.

In 2022, Yakutugol paid just 84,000 rubles (about $1,100) for polluting the Verkhnyaya Neryungri River in 2019, when suspended solids in the water exceeded background levels by nearly 800 times.

“One way to compete effectively on global markets and earn strong profits is to create conditions where people live in settlements buried under coal dust—rather than accounting for wind patterns, applying expensive technologies, or relocating people in a timely and adequate manner from areas of impending environmental disaster,” Anton Lementuev, a coal industry and environmental protection expert at greenthinktank.life, told Arctida.

Toxic substances in coal dust can cause cancer and genetic mutations, with the greatest danger coming from fine particles measuring 2.5 to 10 micrometers, which accumulate in the lungs. Long-term exposure leads to severe illnesses, including anthracosis, or “black lung disease,” a well-known occupational illness among coal workers. Studies show that in Russia’s coal heartland, Kuzbass, increases in coal extraction were accompanied by worsening environmental conditions and a rise in children born with congenital defects.

Due to enormous environmental damage, some researchers consider coal mining and combustion among the most dangerous human activities. Even accounting for the economic benefits coal brings to Yakutia—such as jobs in services and supply chains—Lementuev argues this is more about “escaping extreme poverty at the cost of severe environmental degradation.”

Yet Yakutia still has coal in abundance, and local businesses are rushing to extract as much as possible.

Heating Homes—
and the Planet

In January, the regional government reported a record 52 million tons of coal mined. Yakutia rose to second place nationwide in production, tripling output over the past seven years. Local coal companies show no sign of stopping, planning to extract 80 million tons by 2030.

“These aren’t just tons—this is the life of all Southern Yakutia, first and foremost the Neryungri District. In just a few years, it went from a depressed area to a top-three region. This is truly a labor feat, a new life for our cities.”

Source:Yakutia Daily

Key figures:

• 1 million tons of coal mined in Yakutia every week
• Half of Yakutia’s coal is exported
• 98% of coal comes from Neryungri Ulus (District)
• 20,000 people work in the coal industry

Yakutia’s coal ambitions align with national policy. Despite the climate crisis caused by fossil fuels, Russia is prepared to mine coal for another 500 years—reserves are sufficient. That is the premise of Russia’s Energy Strategy through 2050, which aims to increase coal production by 50% by mid-century.

Yakut officials point to the benefits of coal expansion: budget revenues, jobs, and social infrastructure. By 2025, an average monthly wage in the sector reached 174,000 rubles ($2,260)—40% higher than the regional average and nearly double the national average. According to Yakutia’s minister of industry and geology Maksim Tereshchenko, coal “ensures the republic’s sustainable development and lays the foundation for the future.”

But as with extractive industries everywhere, short-term gains come with a cost: environmental pollution. Coal is the opposite of sustainability—it is the dirtiest fossil fuel.

Per unit of energy produced, coal combustion emits about 25% more CO₂ than oil and nearly twice as much as fossil (natural) gas.

By Arctida’s calculations, burning coal mined in Yakutia since the industry began in 1928 has generated 1.5 billion tons of CO₂—roughly 1% of Russia’s total historical emissions since the Industrial Revolution.

Source:Our World in Data

Coal mines also release methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. Satellites show invisible methane plumes over Yakutia’s coal fields—leaks during extraction. According to Carbon Mapper, in March 2025 nearly 840 kilograms of methane per hour were escaping from the Neryungri field, one of Russia’s largest. That is roughly equivalent to emissions from an average landfill in the United States.

Thus Yakutia’s coal producers, like their counterparts worldwide, are pouring fuel on the fire of the global climate crisis. It makes no difference which country buys Yakut coal—all emissions from its combustion enter the Earth’s atmosphere and warm the planet. The consequences are already being felt by Yakut residents themselves, especially the most vulnerable Indigenous and rural communities.

Burning and Sinking

In Yakutia’s southwestern village of Yunkyur in Olyokminsky District (population about 1,000), the climate crisis is already knocking at people’s doors.

“Since 2023, it’s become impossible to live here,” Nina Konstantinovna, a resident of Yunkyur, told Vokrug.Media in 2025, showing the flooded rooms of the house she had left behind. “Now I rent an apartment in an orphanage. My daughter moved to the city because living here became impossible. The ceiling in my bedroom started collapsing because the house tilted.”

Due to rapid permafrost thaw, the ground is collapsing across the village, water is flooding homes, people are forced to leave, and residents are pumping water off the local sports ground. In central Yakutia, more than 70% of Indigenous rural residents reported sinking house foundations in a 2016 survey. Nearly one-third said their plots were flooding—something that had not occurred just ten years earlier.

Nearly all of Yakutia sits atop centuries-old permafrost, whose upper layer melts every summer. This has always been the case, but as the planet warms, thawing penetrates ever deeper. Permafrost has been degrading since the early 1980s, accelerating sharply in recent decades. Buildings and infrastructure were never designed for this: pile foundations lose their load-bearing capacity.

With little state support, Yunkyur residents have to adapt on their own. One man built a diesel-powered thermosiphon and buried it in front of his house to prevent further tilting. Nina Konstantinovna remains optimistic and is already building a new home in the same village.

Climate projections offer little hope though. Scientists estimate that by 2040, foundation stability across the republic may reach a critical threshold. Yakutia continues to warm rapidly: average annual air temperature rose by three degrees Celsius between 1966 and 2023, and summers now last 70–101 days instead of the previous 50–56.

In 2020, Yakutia made global headlines when Verkhoyansk—one of the coldest places on Earth—recorded +38°C (100°F), the highest temperature ever observed in the Arctic, more typical of the Mediterranean. In the remote settlement of Tiksi, Russia’s northernmost port and a key hub on the Northern Sea Route, abnormally warm conditions have persisted for the past 20 years.

Planetary warming goes hand in hand with wildfires, which scientists say are becoming more frequent and destructive due to the climate crisis. Since 1984, the area affected by forest fires in Yakutia has steadily increased, with the worst yet to come.

The exceptional year was 2021, when Yakutia’s fires were declared the largest in recorded history. Toxic smog engulfed the capital, Yakutsk (population nearly 400,000), and smoke reached neighboring countries. In the village of Byas-Kyuyol, 31 homes and eight outbuildings burned. The fire destroyed nearly 8 million hectares of forest that year, damages exceeded 3.7 billion rubles ($48 million), and greenhouse gas emissions from Yakutia’s fires alone were equivalent to 40% of Russia’s total annual emissions.

Unlike the economic losses from burned homes, the long-term health effects of inhaling toxic smoke remain largely unaccounted for.

“No one counts the invisible damage—the damage to health,” said an Indigenous Sakha resident in a 2022 study on wildfire impacts. “I went to the city to treat my eyes. Doctors said: ‘You have severe conjunctivitis, micro-injuries. This happens from burning.’ I was too close to the fire, and burnt particles were flying straight into my eyes.”

While most wildfires are human-caused, the catastrophic fires of 2021 were fueled by extreme drought and heat. The year before, high temperatures in northern Yakutia triggered massive Arctic wildfires. Climate change is also driving more frequent and stronger gusty winds, allowing even small fires to spread within minutes.

Indigenous peoples—who make up more than half of Yakutia’s population—live on the front lines. Wildfires devastate traditional livelihoods of the Sakha, Evenks, Evens, Dolgans, Yukaghirs, and Chukchi: livestock breeding, reindeer herding, and crafts.

Between 70% and 80% of Yakut rural residents consider the climate crisis a threat to their well-being, citing droughts, floods, and extreme summer heat.

Yakut authorities acknowledge these threats, citing a rise in extreme weather events and “very dangerous” risks from heat, drought, floods, permafrost thaw, and fires. Through 2027, the region plans to respond with permafrost and wildfire monitoring, dam construction, and artificial precipitation control.

Wind Blows, Sun Shines

Yakutia accounts for half of Russia’s northern supply delivery, with coal as the key cargo. The lives of 90% of the republic’s population depend on reliable fuel deliveries. Yet heating a vast, poorly connected region with extreme climate using coal is a chronic headache for officials.

Fuel and food reach Arctic Yakutia by sea, rivers, air, and zimniks (winter roads). A single delivery can take up to two and a half years. By the time coal arrives, its price has quadrupled or quintupled. Delays are common, often due to unpredictable weather—now the new normal with climate change.

Low river levels have repeatedly disrupted shipments. In 2016–2017, abnormal snowfall and warm weather prevented winter roads from opening on time, cutting Arctic districts off from the “mainland” and forcing authorities to declare a state of emergency. In 2025, coal deliveries lagged again due to equipment repairs at the Dzhebariki-Khaya mine, which supplies Arctic settlements.

To address logistics and reduce costs, some researchers propose developing small coal mines in Arctic Yakutia to meet local needs. This was advocated in 2023 by Senator Sakhamin Afanasyev. But such an approach would only deepen Yakutia’s dependence on coal, worsening Arctic pollution and climate impacts. Scientists estimate that humanity must stop burning coal by mid-century to avoid more dangerous warming.

Yakutia could instead invest in modern, climate-safe solutions: renewable energy in remote areas, passive housing, energy efficiency, solar thermal collectors, and converting boiler houses to biofuels.

Arctic renewable potential is abundant. During the polar day, Yakutia receives as much sunlight annually as southern Russian regions, and the country’s strongest winds blow along the northern and eastern Arctic coasts.

Solar power plants in Yakutia already save expensive diesel fuel and, by some estimates, can replace at least 40% of diesel generation.

According to Arсtida’s energy transition study, renewable installed capacity in Yakutia reached 6.3 MW in 2024—enough to power about 6,000 households.

Source:Arctida

Cognitive Dissonance

Beyond individual green projects, Yakutia has begun more systemic climate work. Following the Sakhalin Region, which declared its carbon neutrality in August 2025, Yakutia plans to pursue a balance between greenhouse gas emissions and absorption and adopt a strategy to achieve this this year.

However, Yakutia may struggle to replicate Sakhalin’s forest-based approach. In recent years, carbon absorption in Yakutia has declined while emissions have grown, project developers noted in November 2025. Massive wildfire emissions are a key reason Yakutia cannot rely on an “easy” path to climate neutrality. The draft strategy emphasizes renewables, electric transport, and a circular economy—globally recognized best practices of climate crisis mitigation. Yet it remains unclear how many wind turbines, solar panels, or electric buses will actually appear.

Other strategic documents outline modest steps before 2030: one biofuel boiler house, energy efficiency measures in Ust-Nera village in Oymyakon District, and converting 63 diesel power plants into hybrids using renewables. And the region’s sustainable development plan lists energy transition projects—including renewable energy—as priorities. Even so, in Yakutia’s remote areas, where the northern supply delivery is carried out with great hurdles, renewables are expected to account for just 2% of energy generation by 2032.

Yakutia’s engagement in the carbon-neutrality agenda—especially as one of the first Russian regions—is a necessary step toward sustainable development and better living conditions in coal-polluted areas.

But plans to expand coal mining remain at odds with the region’s climate ambitions: the dirtiest fuel on Earth is fundamentally incompatible with carbon neutrality.

For now, Yakutia authorities expect rising coal demand from India, China, and Vietnam, though rail capacity in eastern Russia may limit growth.

Anton Lementuev does not foresee a sharp decline in exports in the coming decade. Yakutia’s post-2020 coal surge reflects Russia’s reorientation toward Asian markets, where demand remains high. Most exports are coking coal used in steelmaking, which currently lacks a technological alternative.

Russian coal companies also remain competitive, Lementuev argues, by compensating costs with “astonishingly low responsibility toward nature and people.” Companies often abandon “massive open pits and burning waste heaps” instead of reclaiming land as required by law. In other cases, environmental efforts are merely simulated—saplings are planted without care and die.

“Ignoring citizens’ right to a healthy environment, and the inaction of authorities and regulators, is also a form of subsidy. Paid not from the budget or tariffs, but with people’s lives and degraded soils and forests. Someone always pays for ‘cheap coal’”

By continuing to bet on coal instead of moving away from it, Yakutia—like Russia as a whole—remains trapped by the short-term gains of the planet’s dirtiest fuel, at the cost of severe environmental damage. Given the climate crisis, the high cost of northern delivery, and recurring threats to basic life support, a focus on local renewable resources would be the most logical foundation for carbon neutrality—prioritizing quality of life, climate protection, and the well-being of Arctic nature.