Home – Home – Jornals – Region: Economics and Sociology 2015 number 2

The article presents the effects of BAT-based (best available technology) legislative changes in the environmental activities of companies. It proposes a hierarchical grouping of the most significant factors determining the level of environmental and economic efficiency of BAT, their interaction, and meter type. Efficiency of BAT was analyzed from the standpoint of the impact of natural regional factors with concrete examples from the coal and oil-and-gas industries as the most relevant environmental stakeholders. The paper summarizes the studies that suggest replacing existing technologies with BAT to reduce harm caused to natural complexes in Siberian coal-mining regions and involve techniques assessing the prevented damage. It is concluded that the specificities of natural and regional background undoubtedly affect the amount of the reduction and the efficiency of BAT. It is possible to avert the maximum damage at the coal-mining companies of South Yakutia, the Far East, and the Kuznetsk Basin. Whether the enterprises in these sectors achieve project efficiency of BAT largely depends on whether the basic elements of ecological and economic management are available and properly used, especially the EIA process and monitoring. The author makes recommendations on the use of sustainable development indicators to measure the impact of natural factors on the regional ecological and economic efficiency of BAT.