Environmental Kuznets curve: the case of Russia and Finland
The article discusses the impact of economic development on the environment in the Russian Federation and Finland on the example of emissions of SO2 and nitrogen discharges. Models are built, calculations are carried out to explain the improvement of an ecological situation with a growth of economy. It is shown that the dynamics of ecological indicators in the Russian Federation and Finland is close, although the level of pollution per unit of GDP varies greatly. The factors that determine the dynamics of pollution, almost coincide, but the extent of their influence is markedly different. The study made it possible to explain the improvement of ecological indicators with economic growth, to identify the factors leading to the improvement of the environment. Growth of investments in machinery and equipment, which is associated with the active modernization of economy, was the most important. The study made it possible to explain the improvement of environmental indicators during economic growth, to identify the factors leading to the improvement of the environment. The most important was the growth of investments in machinery and equipment, which is associated with the active modernization of the economy, this factor was significant for all four examples considered, both for Finland and for the Russian Federation. The importance of environmental policy shows that environmental investments in three examples affect the environmental situation, although the statistically significant value of this indicator is small. For the Russian Federation, structural changes have had a great influence.