The issues of ensuring sustainable development of the fuel and energy complex are a major task, including within the framework of international cooperation. One of the main problems that must be solved is environmental problems, environmental protection, and protection of natural biodiversity from the functioning of the fuel and energy complex. The solution to these problems is possible through the creation of international scientific and technical cooperation between states. The work analyzed a unified scientific, technical and innovation policy and monitoring its implementation, as well as proposed mechanisms to improve the effectiveness of this policy.

Our paper tackles the topic of the digital technologies (represented by the information and communication technologies (ICT)) and the sustainable transformation and energy safety in households represented by the smart homes and the traditional households using smart appliances, gadgets, as well as smart meters connected to the Internet. The rapid growth and adoption of information and communication technologies, such as computers, mobile devices, sensors, and networks, can seriously affect the ways and amounts of energy used by society on its path toward sustainable development. There is a growing interest in characterizing the net energy impact of ICT as well as the Internet of Things (IoT) that arises from indirect effects that offset (or amplify) the energy directly consumed by ICT equipment. However, the society might need some time to build the trust in these new digital technologies and develop the wide social acceptance for their usage. In order to test these assumptions, we employ an empirical econometric model based on the data obtained from the online survey carried out with the randomly selected respondents (N = 523) from Russian Federation and the four European Union (EU) countries (Czech Republic, Germany, Poland, and Slovakia). Even with regard to the small size of the sample and thence the limitations stemming from that fact, our results demonstrate that familiarity with smart home technologies and the possibility to alter the tariffs and use flexible energy demand increase the safety of residents and consumers. In addition, it appears that energy efficiency is being rewarded, as energy consumption is sensitive to time constraints on supply. Furthermore, we find that respondents’ age (43% of the respondents belonged to the 36–55 age group), positive attitude to smart home technologies and the possibility to exploit the flexibility of demand offered by the variety of energy tariffs during and off-peaks all yield quite strong and positive relationships and correlations with the willingness to accept the smart home technology and the flexibility of demand. At the same time, concerns over personal security or sharing personal data related to energy consumption do not constitute major concerns for the respondents. Our results have some important impacts on the overall strategy for pursuing sustainable economic development and following the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that might be useful for stakeholders and policymakers as well as for the researchers in this field.

The authors carried out the analysis of current legislation of the Russian Federation and the Eurasian Economic Union, the practice of its application, the literature on the issue of state regulation of foreign trade activities. The concept of state regulation of foreign trade is given, the classification of these regulatory methods into types according to various criteria is presented. The Russian legislation contains an exhaustive list of methods for state regulation of foreign trade. However, application of specific methods depends on the type of goods. In connection therewith, the content of some of the most commonly used methods for state regulating foreign trade activity in practice is disclosed. At this, preference is given to the methods of customs tariff regulation, which include the customs tariff and customs duties. The relevance of the topic of state regulation of foreign trade is caused by the fact that foreign trade activity is currently becoming more and more colossal and covers all regions of the world, and therefore legal regulation of foreign trade is acquiring important socio-economic and sometimes political significance. So, in In January-August 2021, according to the data from the Bank of Russia, Russia's foreign trade turnover amounted to $492 billion dollars (137.8% by January-August 2020), including exports – $299 billion (144%), imports – $193 billion (129.2%). The trade balance remained positive, 106 billion US dollars (in January-August 2020 – positive, 58.3 billion dollars). Using the methods of observation, analysis, synthesis, comparison, interpretation of norms and others, the results were obtained that allow us to draw the following conclusions. When forming a foreign trade policy, the state needs to assess the regulatory impact on foreign trade in order to respond promptly to rapidly changing conditions in foreign markets functioning. Taking into account that the methods of state regulation of foreign trade activities are not systematized in the legislation, it is necessary to refer to the doctrine in which there is a classification of such methods into types. In addition, it is also necessary to take into account the fact that different methods of state regulation are applied to foreign trade in different goods.

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