In official documents on developing a green economy, different states emphasize different aspects. The developed countries stress competition and jobs, while the developing ones accentuate sustainable development, solutions to the problems of poverty, and the issues of social justice and public participation. The BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa), for their part, focus on the effective use of resources. Actual ecological problems, primarily the limits to ecological development, are conspicuously absent from any of the above-mentioned documents, which proves that the economy itself and socioeconomic components are the most important parts of a green economy.

Key Themes

  • The modernization and transition of the global economy toward the new technological order are the main vehicles of globalization. Along with tangible technological progress and increased production efficiency and competitive ability, the new structure is intended to improve quality of life and the living environment.
     
  • At this time, the green sector of the global economy is relatively small, but it is characterized by exceptionally rapid growth, especially relative to the general economic slow-down of.
     
  • Ensuring energy security for the countries that import fossil fuel, who are also the global economic leaders, is one of the major factors that contributes to the impressive development of the green economy and its alternative energy segment.
     
  • In the short- and medium-term (until 2020), the green sector of the economy and particularly its clean energy component may become increasingly important.
     
  • The prospects for the green industry and for Russia’s general economic development are closely related to progress in the energy sector, especially to the development of alternative energy technologies.

Recommendations

Taking into consideration global energy diversification and decarbonization trends, as well as Russia’s natural and socioeconomic characteristics, the following innovations that stimulate further development of alternative energy can be recommended:

  • Using energy efficiency and energy conservation technologies in building construction and reconstruction.
     
  • Emphasizing energy conservation programs in the state-financed sphere as the most promising, specifically in the public area, and the housing and utility sector.
     
  • Updating state procurement rules and procedures to conform to high standards of energy efficiency.
     
  • Promoting energy-saving programs in the real sector, particularly a program that reduces energy consumption by major industrial producers.
     
  • In order to develop renewable energy sources, replacing obsolete local production facilities and expanding them, using less expensive installations based on renewable energy sources, which would provide more flexibility in site selection, while not stopping work on nuclear power plants currently under construction and continuing to replace coal with cleaner gas.
     
  • Adopting a system of differential electricity pricing based on its sources, with subsidies for alternative energy.
     
  • The importance of changes in the field of the informal economy should not be underestimated. Rediscovering and practically applying traditional knowledge and cultural aspects that include behavioral patterns, skills, and technological know-how directed at natural resource and energy conservation.
     
  • Developing institutional foundations as well as investing in the technological modernization of the “traditional” energy industry, which should be undertaken in addition to the measures outlined above.