An adequate assessment of the environmental factor at the macro level is important in determining the direction of social-and economic development. Practically, at this level, there is a choice of a “sustainable” or “unsustainable” development. Underestimation of natural resources and environmental damage distorts the indicators of economic development and progress, which leads to the choice of an inefficient social-and-economic direction. If there is no mechanism of compensation for social-environmental-economic damage by the violator(implementation of the polluter pays principle), then this means that the corresponding losses are real for other economic agents and the population.To assess the relationship between the quantity and quality of economic growth, the trends of social-and-economic development of countries and regions, sustainability indicators are needed as targets for assessing the effectiveness of this development. The ecological imperative in sustainable development requires defining it (sustainable development) as the main goal of environmental policy at all levels. In Russia, the issues ofenvironmental policy development at the federal level are worked out the best. At the regional and municipal levels, there are only a few positive examples of the development of environmental policy, including in the Kemerovo region.