The Eco-Efficiency of Russian Regions in North Asia: Their Green Direction of Regional Development

Abstract

The green economy is one of the important and practical tools of sustainable development, which balances the two directions of regional development: economic growth and preservation of the natural environment. In this paper, we have developed a methodology for investigating the development and implementation of regional green economy policies, using the Russian regions in North Asia as an example. Three main tasks have been accomplished for this purpose: (1) assessment of how sustainable the socio-economic development of the Russian regions in North Asia is; (2) comparative analysis of the sustainability of regional policies (to what extent the federal targets and priorities for the green agenda implementation are reflected in the regional strategic documents); and (3) determination of the green direction for regional development by comparing the results of previous assessments. To assess the sustainability of regional development, we have used a methodology for DEA of eco-efficiency of socio-economic development in the Russian North Asian regions, using a non-oriented slacks-based measure (SBM) model. To assess the sustainability of regional policies, we used a content analysis of regional socio-economic development strategies. We have identified considerable variations among the Russian North Asian regions in the extent to which their socio-economic development is consistent with the principles of a green economy (both in the priorities, tools of regional policies, and the level of eco-efficiency). The content analysis of the regional strategic documents of the Russian North Asian regions, as well as the assessment of the eco-efficiency of their socio-economic development, show that regions with low actual eco-efficiency are planning in their strategies greater efforts for green development than more eco-efficient regions. The approaches we propose can support decision making in the field of eco-economic development as a tool to measure the degree of compliance of regional development with the principles of a green economy.