The relevance of the topic under study lies in the fact that, under the conditions of sanctions restrictions, the domestic economy needs its own strategy for the sustainable development of environmental management, which assumes not the transfer of dependence of income from use from foreign trade operations (as EU countries do), but the reduction of environmental costs for stable tax and non-tax payments from the use of natural resources. The purpose of the article is related to the study of prospects for improving the taxation of hydrocarbon raw materials on the principles of rational nature management for the sustainable development of the Russian economy in the conditions of sanctions restrictions. Based on the use of regression and variance analysis methods and the study of international experience, the potential opportunities for improving environmental taxation in the direction of rational nature management and support for «green» economic growth are substantiated. The analysis of effective taxation in Russia on the subject of hydrocarbon dependence of the budget of the Russian Federation is carried out, the assessment of taxation of the rational level of environmental management in Russia is given. The contradiction of environmental taxation in the conditions of sanctions restrictions from the standpoint of federal budget profitability and sustainable economic development is revealed. To resolve this contradiction, tax optimization measures based on the principles of rational nature management are proposed. Since the export of hydrocarbon raw materials is the main source of revenue generation of the state budget of the Russian Federation, the authors substantiate the advantages of environmental taxation in the conditions of modern sanctions restrictions.