The Jevons paradox and the problem of assessing the effectiveness of environmental institutions in Russia

Abstract

The paper presents an attempt to quantify and analyze the ecological and economic trends in the regions of Russia using the decoupling coefficient. The calculations showed high heterogeneity in the spatial distribution of the quantitative decoupling effect in Russia. The number of regions where this effect is steadily manifested concerning all (included in the analysis) types of negative impact is relatively small. In the regions actively developing cross-border ties with China, the decoupling effect is observed concerning the discharge of polluted wastewater. According to the negative impact on the atmospheric air in most cases, the effect of decoupling was also revealed. At the same time, in some regions, economic development is accompanied by an increase in air pollution, which is the most noticeable when considering the situation in the context of the main economic activities. We can also conclude that over the past decade there has been no significant environmental modernization in the basic industries of the regions actively developing cross-border ties with China. During the period of economic instability (from 2009 to 2016), the ecological and economic efficiency of economic activity decreased in all regions and the Russian Federation. The results of the study show that under these conditions, the effectiveness of existing environmental institutions is decreasing, and they do not provide sufficient “immunity” of regional ecological and economic systems concerning economic shocks.