There is a sting to this tale which perhaps the Russian government should consider. The consequences of a warming Arctic are as described by Dr Daly, that easier access is provided to hydrocarbon deposits – but it also means the thawing of permafrost, both on land and under the shallow water covering the vast Russian continental shelf.

Minister Iury Tutnev and soon to be President Putin should read the work undertaken by Professor Nataly Shakhova, Dr Igor Semiletov and others. They warn that a consequence of thawing permafrost is the uncontrollable release into the atmosphere of vast quantities of methane, a greenhouse gas over 70 times more powerful than carbon dioxide.

Shakhova and her colleagues point out that near-surface deposits of methane are so huge and so close to being released because of global warming that they make anthropogenic release of carbon dioxide look puny by comparison. They report that the consequences of methane venting into the atmosphere from the Russian Arctic will be sufficient to produce abrupt climate change.

For those who do not know what this implies, it means, among other things, rapid increase in temperature, sea level rise and an increase in severe climate events – sufficient to threaten our ability to survive as a species.

So, Arctic warming may enable Russia to access new oil deposits enabling us to continue driving inefficient fossil fuelled vehicles a bit longer – but at what price?

Hey! Not to worry. This methane threat won’t affect us for at least 40 or 50 years and in the meantime we can get on with living – and who gives a damn about the problems our grandchildren will face?