The Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation elaborated the first ecological rating of large Russian cities for 2001 – first quarter of 2012

Rating and methods of evaluation were elaborated subject to the orders of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and they comply with the world analogs and criteria of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Methodology for ecological rating preparation was elaborated for the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation by Ernst & Young.
Rating for 2011 estimated 82 Russian cities featuring isolate constituent entities of the Russian Federation. Evaluation methodology covers the issues related to environment protection, taking into account international recommendations and experience of analogous ratings for other countries and regions. It should be noted that such methodology is based on limited amount of quantitative indicators, whereon the information has been provided by municipal administrations.
Today, more than half the world population lives in the cities. Russian urban population amounts approximately to 74%. About 55 million people (more than a third of the total Russian population) lived in 2011 in the cities covered by the rating. Considering such indicators, the quality of environmental conditions in the cities is one of the determining factors of life and work of people. Efforts made by municipal authorities to create favorable environment in the cities and enhance the efficiency of the use of resources by municipal services make considerable contribution into development of Russia’s economy.
The rating evaluates the cities by indices in 7 categories: aerial environment, water consumption and water quality, waste management, use of territories, transport, energy consumption, and management of environmental impact.
The first 5 places in the general rating of urban environment quality in 2011 were distributed between Volgograd, St. Petersburg, Saransk, Vologda and Kursk. Moscow and Kazan were the 6th and the 7th in the rating, respectively. All these cities take rather high places in various categories. Volgograd gains the lead only in the waste management category, while Vologda tops the air quality category, and Kursk is the first with regard to water use.
The cities that failed to provide extensive data and those that presumably don’t have the systems for collection of reliable statistical data with regard to important indicators in the field of environmental protection were the outsiders of the rating.
The rating aimed at assurance of the most favorable living conditions by reduction of the negative impact on the environment and enhancement of the efficiency of natural resources use.
Collected information allows to compare Russian cities both against each other, and with the cities of Europe, North America, Asia, and Africa. It is especially important also because the extent of the existing problems of modern Russian cities can be underestimated. In such a way, average indicators of the extent of formation of annual consumption waste per one Russian citizen have considerably surpassed not only Russian norms, but also analogous indicators of the cities of Europe, Asia and Africa.
In the course of elaboration of analogous rating in the nearest future it is planned to make extra efforts to ensure necessary completeness and reliability of data, as well as to consider important indicators of environmental quality and urban management.
The Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of Russia plans to elaborate the ecological rating for 2012 in September.
Source: the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of Russia