Home – Home – Jornals – Region: Economics and Sociology 2022 number 4

For decades, transforming the economy of Kuzbass (Kemerovo Oblast) has been presented in the region’s strategic planning documents as the most important method to ensure accelerated economic growth. The authors of this article prove that, unfortunately, there have been virtually no qualitative changes in the Kuzbass economy over the past twenty years and give reasons why this has occurred. Kuzbass is currently facing the difficult task of choosing a long-term development model. On the one hand, despite the existing internal challenges and risks, the government is targeting businesses and society at accelerated growth, relying primarily on opportunities to increase coal production and advance SMEs. On the other hand, a critical mass of subjective and objective circumstances is gradually accumulating in Kuzbass, which in the medium term may radically change the situation, and the transformation of its economy will be the only possible model of economic growth. The main problem is the prospect of coal being displaced from the global economy under the pressure of decarbonization trend. Russia lacks a generally recognized systematic approach to the structural reorganization of coal-producing regions under the decarbonization policy. Having studied some relevant practices abroad, we offer an original concept of transforming the Kuzbass economy on the principles ofjust transition, used by the European Union. The prerequisite for its successful implementation must be a dialogue between the authorities, businesses, and society in elaborating and coordinating the corridors of the region’s future development.