The discussions traditionally involve government officials, energy company CEOs, scientists, experts, and journalists specializing in energy matters. The 2026 forum gathered 6,600 specialists and media people from 85 countries.
In 2026, the main topics for the business program were new energy, changes in oil and gas markets amid geopolitical challenges, and workforce training for the industry.
One of the speakers at the session on bio-eco-settlements as a new infrastructural model for remote and anchor settlements was Olga Bakhmet, RAS Corr. Fellow and KarRC RAS CEO.
Bio-eco-settlements embody an approach where a community is set up so that it tends to be self-sustaining and live in harmony with nature. In such settlements, the emphasis is on environmental friendliness: they use renewable energy sources, waste recycling systems, closed water supply cycles, and organic farming. The idea is to reduce dependence on urban infrastructure and create a sustainable system of a life set in nature.
Remote logging camps, urban-type settlements with mining operations, rural settlements – i.e. places where people live and work while facing challenging environmental and climatic conditions – they all need to evolve into comfortable places to live in. The task today is to lift them out of a depressed state by introducing a high-tech bioeconomy.
Olga Bakhmet, KarRC RAS CEO
-- In the 1960s–70s, Karelia’s forest resources were being utilized very intensively. A large number of logging camps settlements was created. People there worked successfully, they truly labored, but why did most of them choose not to stay in these areas? This is because the conditions they would want for their children to grow up in, to continue their education, and then build a career were lacking, -- related Olga Bakhmet, speaking at the forum session.
-- There is a great many tasks associated with bio-eco-settlements: energy supply, procurements, creating new materials for building energy-efficient and comfortable homes, producing high-quality agricultural products, health matters, etc. All of this must be based on high-tech solutions, -- says Olga Bakhmet.
As Olga Nikolaevna explained, Karelia has been chosen as a model region for trying out such solutions. On the one hand, almost half of the republic falls within the Arctic zone so we can test the new technologies; on the other hand, the Karelian Research Centre is recognized as a successful scientific organization, which has the skills and capacity to work in this sphere, to design and propose the necessary technologies. Also, as Olga Bakhmet noted, environmental issues are pivotal for bio-eco-settlements, and one of the issues is household and industrial waste management.
-- We have profound background in this sphere. Working under a contract with PKS-Vodokanal JSC, we have produced good results on agricultural applications of their wastes. We have been successful in finding applications for pulp-and-paper industry wastes. Also, we have proposals for the use of wastes at fish farms. This is all groundwork for advancing technological solutions further, -- said KarRC RAS leader Olga Bakhmet, addressing the participants of the Russian Energy Week.
Photos: Roscongress photobank, Igor Georgievsky
