KISELYOVSK, Russia—In October, President Vladimir Putin pledged Russia would turn out to be carbon fair by 2060, an audacious promise for the sector’s fourth-greatest emitter of greenhouse gases and an financial system closely reliant on fossil fuels.
Few had been as bowled over at Mr. Putin’s announcement because the residents of Kiselyovsk, a metropolis they call “Demise Valley” due to the birth-pit coal mines that belch horrifying gases and coal dust, leaving the air acrid and children in unhappy health.
