Assessing the decoupling of economic growth from environmental impacts in industrial regions of the Russian Federation: an impact decoupling approach

Perm National Research Polytechnic University, 29, Komsomolsky prospect, Perm, 614000, Russia

^* Corresponding author: alexkrutova@yandex.ru

Abstract

The article analyzes the dynamics of the economic activity level in Russian industrial regions and its impact on the main environmental elements (water, air and soil) by calculating the decoupling coefficient. In the study a hierarchical cluster analysis was carried out, resulted in the formation of seven regional clusters, five of which had a significant share of the industrial sector in the gross value-added structure. Decoupling coefficients were calculated for 64 constituent entities of the Russian Federation belonging to different types of industrial clusters. The ecological and economic balance assessment of industrial regions growth showed the decoupling effect presence for most of them. The movement towards environmentally sustainable growth is more evident in the regions of the industrially diversified cluster. The analysis of three decoupling coefficients showed that in the vast majority of industrial regions the growth rates of pollutant emissions into the atmosphere and the growth rates of polluted wastewater discharges into surface water change at a lower rate than per capita GRP, which indicates a “green trend” in the region’s economic activity. However, the decoupling coefficient, showing the dynamics ratio of production and consumption waste and GRP per capita, has negative value in 37.5% of regions. The most problematic one in terms of this indicator was the Trade and manufacturing cluster, including 21 constituent entities of the Russian Federation. According to the authors, it may be related to the trade sector of these regions.