A man walks past buildings that are constructed on concrete piles to prevent permafrost from thawing, in Yakutsk, Russia, September 4, 2021. Global warming is thawing swathes of the world's permafrost, threatening to release vast amounts of greenhouse gases as everything from mammoth bones to ancient vegetation that have laid frozen inside it for millennia defrost and decompose. Scientists say the emissions could eventually match or even exceed the European Union's industrial emissions due to the sheer amount of decaying organic matter that is locked inside. Picture taken September 4, 2021. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov SEARCH "PERMAFROST SHEMETOV" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES