Improving the Decoupling Analysis of the Regions’ Eco-Economic Development (by the examples of the Southern Federal District regions of Russia)

Abstract

The key aspect of sustainable development is decreasing the ecological problems and risks in order to promote the society's welfare. The systems of indicators are elaborated to characterize sustainable development. These systems allow to evaluate the tools being used and results, to monitor and manage the regions' eco-economic policy. The world's best practice relies on the decoupling-analysis, based on calculating the decoupling index. Such analysis helps evaluate the economic processes' influence on the environment. However, the calculation of the decoupling index does not make a profound analysis of the "decoupling" effect (does not show whether the effect is absolute or relative). The research authors suggest an advanced model of analyzing a region's eco-economic condition, based on the updated decoupling index. This will provide an opportunity to substantiate the financial measures more rationally, promote the "green" economy projects and achieve the regions' sustainable development goals. The article presents the Southern Federal District regions' eco-economic development decoupling analysis, based on the suggested decoupling-analysis model. The research also gives the calculation of region's "eco-economic attractiveness' rating, based on the updated decoupling index. Such a rating is essential for monitoring the effectiveness of integrating the eco-saving technologies and evaluating a region's risks. As a result, the rating will allow ranging the regions by their eco-economic development level and making conclusions on the effectiveness of the region's policy.