Statistical Analysis of Environmental Protection Expenditures in Russia

Abstract

The topical relevance of this study lies in the current state of the environment in Russia. It is assessed as unfavorable, and this fact is recognized both by the scientific community and at the state level, which determines the need for an integrated study of costs aimed at protecting the environment and improving the ecological situation. One of the article’s objectives was to conduct an appropriate statistical analysis both for Russia as a whole and for selected regions. For that purpose, the volumes, structure, and dynamics of environmental protection expenditures and some factors affecting their value were comprehensively studied; the differentiation of the Russian regions by the level of expenditures was examined. The authors substantiated the areas of environmental protection based on econometric modeling.This study, in particular, revealed a fairly close relationship between economic growth and the generation of both production and consumption wastes. At the same time, it was established that the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate is significantly lower than the growth in waste generation, which is explained by several reasons, including budgetary ones. This situation, in turn, was reflected in the ratio of environmental protection costs to GDP. The observed situation of a very slow reduction, stabilization or even growth of the negative impact of economic entities on the environment in a number of regions of the country and for specific indicators, as well as an increase in the generation of household waste (i.e. among the population), requires an adequate increase in the costs of enterprises and budgets of all levels aimed at environmental protection and rationalization of environmental management. This in principle leads to an increase in production costs and calls for a redistribution of budget expenditures from the production and social sphere to the environmental sector. The use of econometric modeling to highlight the factors that influence the level of costs by region has shown that their value depends primarily on the population density and the actual state of the environment.