Sustainable Development of Russian Regions: The Impact of Green Innovations

In today’s world, the role of regional units in the process of sustainable development is gaining more and more relevance, while green innovations are believed to be one of the ways to contribute to the regional sustainable growth. Scientists have defined green innovation in a variety of ways, and it has been utilised in different studies to determine its efficacy for both internal and external stakeholders. This research paper aims at investigating the impact of green technologies in Russian regions on the ecological, economic, and social advancement, since the previous ones have paid little attention to such links in Russia as a developing country with the early stages of green innovation execution. The study analyses the sample of 85 Russian regional units between 2015 and 2019 and relies on the secondary data collected from Rosstat. The data is further processed with the use of econometric tools, namely, random effect panel data models. Overall, green innovation investments in Russian regions prove to have a favorable influence on environmental indicators such as water and soil pollution reduction, while neither costs or share of implementation of green innovations have impact on air pollution levels, as well as economic indices and mortality rate. The study is assumed to fill a research gap by demonstrating the lack of a green innovation effect on economic and social sustainability indicators since the SDGs have been announced and provide valuable implications for managers and regional policymakers in terms of stimulation of green innovations implementation.