Environmental aspects of the economic growth of Russian administrative regions

The objective was to assess the relationship between the dynamics of economic growth and the level of pollutant emissions in the ecosystems of Russian administrative regions in the period from 1999 to 2023.

The work uses methods for analysing the level of anthropogenic impact on the environment, based on the assessment of the parameters of the "ecological Kuznets curve", coupling, decoupling and regression modelling. The analysis is based on data covering 8 federal districts of Russia, including the Southern and North Caucasian federal districts. Features were considered of application of the analysis of the ecological Kuznets curve to study the relationship between environmental and economic indicators. A quantitative assessment is presented of the relationship between the gross regional product and the rate of discharge of polluted wastewater and pollutant emissions into the atmosphere by federal districts of Russia: ecological Kuznets curves were constructed and the decoupling values and the parameters of the regression model are calculated.

The results obtained indicate that the economic development of Russian regions in the long term cannot be fully recognized as being balanced ecologically nor does it contribute to the reduction of its environmental impact. The results of the statistical assessment of the anthropogenic impact on the environment can serve as a basis for adjusting the parameters of an ecological‐economic strategy aimed at achieving sustainable and balanced growth in Russian administrative regions.

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