Nicknamed a "smiling house" by residents, this building which was damaged by permafrost thaw, stands in the town of Chersky, Sakha (Yakutia) Republic, Russia, September 13, 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 13, 2021. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov SEARCH "PERMAFROST SHEMETOV" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES