Activation of Sustainable Development Mechanisms on the Base of

Green Projects of the Rail Transport

Natalia A. Zhuravleva

, Liana M. Chechenova

and Miloš Poliak

Emperor Alexander I St. Petersburg State Transport University, 190031 St. Petersburg, 9 Moskovsky pr,

Russian Federation

University of Zilina, Department of Road and Urban Transport, Univerzitná 1, 010 26, Slovakia

Keywords: Sustainable Development, Green Projects, Rail Transport.

Abstract: Russia is currently facing its traditional challenge, the necessity of economy diversification, as well as the

challenge of the decrease of dependence on raw materials sector. Due to the slowdown in global business

activities caused by COVID-19 pandemic, the fall in demand and in prices for fossil fuels may be long-term.

What is more, some of the world's major economies are being involved in the global transformation of national

economic systems in response to the global climate and environmental crisis. Railway transport of the Russian

Federation, representing basically by JSC "Russian Railways", is in a leading position in the world transport

system. The Holding's response to these challenges will largely predetermine the pathway of development not

only of railway transport, but also the format of the development of the Russian economy for coming years

or even decades. The purpose of this study is to determine the relationship between the adoption of a

sustainable development policy and the effectiveness of the implementation of the projects of Russia’s high-

speed railway infrastructure development. The authors argue that the functioning of transport organizations

within the framework of the established principles of sustainable development (hereinafter referred to as ESG

-Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance) contributes to the improvement of their operational

activities. The research methodology is based on the analysis of international approaches and assessment

criteria for ESG factors using analytical procedures to identify cause-and-effect relationships of rail transport

development strategy in the Russian Federation within the framework of ESG. The informational background

of the study is based on the analysis of the reports of international organizations and the data of JSC Russian

Railways in terms of funding, expected prospects and effects. As a result of the study we have found the terms

of transformation of sustainable development of rail transport systems in the world and in the Russian

Federation under the changes in the geography and commodity markets structure. We have set the favorable

prospects through business direct participation in sustainable development implementation and reaching its

goals. On this basis, the benchmarks of JSC Russian Railways in terms of sustainable development strategy

have been assessed. In order to implement environmental infrastructural projects, the parameters of the

compliance of the Russia’s railway transport development strategy with the goals of sustainable growth have

been established.

1 INTRODUCTION

The last few years the essence of transport systems in

general and, first of all, rail transport have radically

changed. This is due to a large-scale social,

technological process and economic shift in the

transport services market, shaped by a new

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consumption model. New markets for goods and

services appear, old ones shall be destroyed and

modified. The geography, structure and types of

transportation are changing significantly. The

transport system is moving into a green (safe), social

(highly mobile) and economical system (Wang et al.

2020; Svatovskaya et al. 2020).

Zhuravleva, N., Chechenova, L. and Poliak, M.

Activation of Sustainable Development Mechanisms on the Base of Green Projects of the Rail Transport.

DOI: 10.5220/0010663300003223

In Proceedings of the 1st International Scientiﬁc Forum on Sustainable Development of Socio-economic Systems (WFSDS 2021), pages 33-41

ISBN: 978-989-758-597-5

This is due to the discrete transition from one

economic structure to another. Despite the huge

variety of new mechanisms for constructing a modern

economic system, its integrity and consistency is due

to the tendency of social consciousness and behavior

towards sustainable development, which implies an

equilibrium state of social, economic and

environmental elements of the system directly related

to the innovative format of the global development of

mankind, namely creation of new conditions of

existence in the preserved technosphere, moral

consumption and distribution of resources. This

paradigm has been voiced many times by political

figures, statesmen and scientists (Viktor Sebestyen,

Endre Domokos, Janos Abonyi, 2020). At the same

time, the position of business, behavior in the

financial and capital markets of many countries, is not

unambiguous enough.

The Sustainable Development Goals (hereinafter

SDGs) announced in 2015 have effectively displaced

the key microeconomic model of systematic growth

in profitability and profitability. They have

established links between their achievement and

investment, changing the pathways of global capital

markets. These are 17 Sustainable Development

Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets for them. Investors

evaluate their effectiveness in a system of 230

indicators, and 192 countries have signed up to this

document.

Sustainable development questions have long

been in the focus of the Russian business community,

but many unresolved problems remain. First of all,

there are no studies proving the effectiveness of

solutions for sustainable development of

infrastructure sectors of the economy, in particular

transport. At the same time, for Russian transport

companies, more than ever, there is a problem of

attracting investments in projects for the development

of backbone infrastructure with long implementation

periods and a low rate of return. This problem has

been especially arised recently, when the pandemic

has brought down the budgets and growth rates of

most countries of the world. Current investment

trends $ 10.2 trillion dollars, required investments $

11.3 trillion dollars, investment gap $ 1.1 trillion

dollars. At the same time, we see that investment

strategies are changing in the world (Saidi et al.

2020).

They shall be guided better to the projects of

Sustainable Development that contribute to the

solution of complex problems of the optimal balance

between economic, environmental and social

development. Moreover, Sustainable Development is

necessarily associated with the economic growth of

national economies, business and international

corporations.

It should be noted that the financing mechanism

for sustainable development projects is focused on the

investment dominant of Green projects. At the end of

2019, the volume of the market for "boiler" corporate

securities and certified ESG bonds amounted to $ 700

billion, 927 issuers carried out almost 6 thousand

issues. The largest share of issued green bonds in the

world falls on the corporate sector (about 25–35% of

the annual volume). Within this category there can be

both corporate green loans and project loans, as well

as securitized issues for green initiatives. In addition,

in the structure of annual green placements, 6-10%

are sovereign bond issues of different countries, and

about 3-10% are green papers of regional and

municipal authorities.

As of mid-October 2020, the total volume of

green bonds in the world increased and amounted to

926.8 billion dollars. According to the results of the

last three years, the USA remains the leaders in green

bonds: 2019 - 59 billion dollars, 2018 - 40 billion

dollars; further China: 2019 - $ 27 billion dollars,

2018 - $ 33 billion dollars and France: 2019 - $ 31.4

billion dollars, 2018 - $ 16.7 billion dollars. Countries

such as Ecuador, Greece, Saudi Arabia and Turkey

made the first attempt to issue this instrument in 2019.

Russian issuers entered the green bond market in

2018, along with representatives from Fiji, Iceland,

Indonesia, Lebanon, Namibia, Portugal, Slovenia,

Thailand and Venezuela.

2 METHODS

The purpose of this study is to determine the

interconnection between the adoption of a sustainable

development policy and the effectiveness of the

projects implementation for the development of

backbone infrastructure in Russia. Our task is to

prove that the activities of transport organizations

within the framework of ESG contribute to the

growth of value added and improve their activity.

The research materials were reports of

international development banks such as the African

Development Bank (AfDB), the Asian Development

Bank (ADB), the European Bank for Reconstruction

and Development (EBRD), the European Investment

Bank (EIB), the Inter-American Development Bank

Group (IDBG), the World Bank Group (WBG) and

also the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) for green

investment and the activities of such funds as the

Climate Investment Fund (CIF), the Global

Environment Facility Trust Fund (GEF), the Global

WFSDS 2021 - INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC FORUM ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC SYSTEMS

Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Fund

(GEEREF). Data from the combined report of

international development banks on climate

investments (The World Bank, 2020) were

investigated. The criteria of Green Bond Database

Methodology (2020), press release of the Bank of

Russia dated 06/08/20 “Climate Change: Impact on

the Financial Sector” (2020) are taken as the basis.

If we start from the data of the Global

Infrastructure Hub for the next decade, then the world

needs for financing infrastructure to support

sustainable development by 2030 will amount to at

least $ 296 billion (about 0.3% of world GDP), or

about 10% of the estimated expenditures made in the

same year. According to experts, by 2040 it will be

necessary to invest an additional 0.6% of global GDP,

or about $ 819 billion.

According to a 2018 study by the World Bank

Group, Russia will need about 4–8 trillion rubles in

financing to move to the best available technologies

(BAT) as part of the “greening” and

“decarbonization” of the economy (considering this

need for industry as well). Moreover, investments by

2020, taking into account climatic factors, were

supposed to amount to about $ 9.3 billion in

renewable energy sources (RES) and $ 47 billion in

urban infrastructure (of which 47% - modernization

of buildings, and 13% - transport). This includes

projects in the energy sector, waste disposal, water

treatment, transport, construction. The World Bank,

among other things, indicates that the transition to a

Green economy in Russia is possible through the

development of Green public procurement, especially

considering that government customers are a

significant segment of consumption in a country with

a market accounting for about a third of GDP.

During the calculation, the Russian Union of

Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Indices (Figure 1) in

the field of sustainable development are used - at

present it is the main independent tool for

independent assessment of Russian companies, which

is included in the International Base for Sustainable

Development Ratings (GISR). When forming the

methodology for compiling the indices, both the

international approach to this problem and the

assessment criteria for ESG factors were taken into

account, that made it possible to expand the format of

using indices in the field of sustainable development

through the development and inclusion of sectoral

and thematic indices, which is also reflected in our

study.

Figure 1. Indicators of the Sustainable Development Vector

Index.

3 RESULTS

3.1 The Conditions for the

Transformation of Sustainable

Development of Rail Transport

Systems in the World and in the

Russian Federation against the

Background of Changes in the

Geography and Structure of

Commodity Markets Have Been

Determined

The efficient transportation service possession shall

be ensured when the long-term curve of the average

costs of TLS acquires a descending character. N the

case of rail transport systems, this is possible when

high-speed traffic projects confirm the effect of

increased profitability due to increased network

Indicators of the Sustainable Development Index

Labor productivity

Industrial safety, labor

protection

Remuneration and expenses for

social programs for staff, staff

training, staff turnover

Air emissions, including

greenhouse gas emissions

Personnel training water

consumption and discharges to

water sources

Energy efficiency and energy

consumption

Waste management

Social investment

Activation of Sustainable Development Mechanisms on the Base of Green Projects of the Rail Transport

density and travel speed. Operational costs decrease

as the productivity of the railway line increases, as the

fixed cost of providing track shalls is spread over an

increasing number of traffic units. To detect the effect

of the speed of the railway network, a high degree of

infrastructure utilization shall be required with an

increase in the transportation speed: the higher the

degree of utilization, the better the economy of the

infrastructure, the more profitability can be provided

to its owner and user. Infrastructure development

shall be provided by the factors presented in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Infrastructure development factors.

3.2 Favorable Prospects from the

Direct Participation of Business in

the Implementation and

Realization of the Goals and

Objectives of Sustainable

Development Have Been

Established

According to the Global Infrastructure Hub (2021),

Russia will need at least $ 1 billion in investments by

2030 (or about 23% of the level of investments in

infrastructure by the same year) to cover the lack of

funds for sustainable development (in terms of energy

and water resources). By 2040, this gap could reach $

3.97 billion and exceed 2% of GDP. According to our

calculations, Russia needs at least 5.9-7 trillion rubles

for the part of its green projects by 2024. In this

assessment, we included the creation of infrastructure

for the processing of household waste, the renovation

and development of urban public transport, minimal

landscaping and landscaping, bringing the share of

renewable energy to 4-5% of the total generation

volume, as well as the minimum necessary measures

in the field of environmental protection and

restoration.

We expect that up to half of this amount will be

covered by the state within the framework of existing

programs. In our opinion, full financing of environ-

mental projects and their effective implementation are

impossible without involving business (Fig. 3).

However, the benefits from environmentally friendly

technologies and equipment, as well as environmental

protection measures, are still significant. At the same

time, companies invest in them not only and probably

not so much for the sake of protecting the

environment, but for increasing their productivity, the

ability to gain access to new markets and also within

the framework of GR and PR campaigns.

Figure 3. Features of business involvement in activities to

achieve the SDGs (according to the OECD).

It should be noted the assessment, given by the

World Business Council for Sustainable

Development (WBCSD), of the importance of private

business in achieving sustainable development goals,

since none other than a private investor is interested

in development and is the driving force of economic

growth, directly creating jobs, financial flows,

introducing innovative technologies.

3.3 The Assessment Was Made of the

Reference Points of Russian

Railways in the Sustainable

Development Strategy

Shifting the volume of passengers and freight traffic

from more intensive transport modes, in terms of

emissions of harmful substances into the atmosphere,

to rail transport will significantly reduce the amount

of such emissions and reduce the negative impact on

the environment. Today, only 12% of rail transport

systems can be classified as energy efficient kinds of

transport. Statistics of harmful substances emissions

into the atmosphere per passenger carried by rail is

recorded in third place in Russia in comparison with

other kinds of transport.

Ecological

reconstruction

ofinfrastructure

Ecologicalrailway

transportation

Environmental

benefitsof

construction

Features of

business

involvement in

activities to

achieve

sustainable

development

goals

- Direct foreign investments

- Combined financing

- Official Support for Sustainable

Development Concept

- Social investments

- Responsible business conduct

Transitionto

green

transportati

on

technologies

Consolidation

ofvaluechains

Useonthesame

infrastructureof

passengerandfreight

traffic

Development

oftransport

ecosystems

Formationof

businessmodels

basedongreen

investments

WFSDS 2021 - INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC FORUM ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC SYSTEMS

The attraction of green finance instruments by

Russian Railways is aimed at supporting the

environmental benefits of the construction and

reconstruction of infrastructure and rail transport in

order to reduce energy consumption and minimize

greenhouse gas emissions and other emissions

harmful to the environment. These goals are consistent

with the strategy for the development of rail transport

in the Russian Federation until 2030, the main

activities of which include the electrification of the

railway system.

One of the tasks of JSC Russian Railways in the

field of ecology is to ensure environmental safety.

This is enshrined in the Environmental Strategy of

Russian Railways until 2020 and for the future until

2030 (Fig. 4).

Projects of JSC "Russian Railways" to

reduce the negative impact on the

environment

Environmental impact

Purchase of electric locomotives and trains

for passenger transportation; electric

locomotives and electric trains

"Lastochka"; high-speed electric trains

"Sa

san"

Reducing the harmful impact on the environment compared to road and air

transport due to transportation by electric trains.

Building:

Central transport hub, v. incl.

Moscow Central Ring (MCC)

Moscow Central Diameters (MCD))

The use of technologies to minimize the level of noise exposure (protective

screens) and devices of the continuous path to minimize noise pollution.

Implementation of a system of passages and galleries to protect passengers

from adverse weather events, incl. creating conditions for people with

limited mobility (elevators and escalators).

Electrification:

Section Rtishchevo - Kochetovka

Direction Necklace - Knot - Yelets

Improving the ecological situation and increasing the attractiveness of the

adjacent territories.

Reducing environmental pollution, in particular, reducing the amount of

harmful emissions into the atmosphere, due to the movement of electric

trains on this infrastructure.

Figure 4. Projects of JSC "Russian Railways" in the format of a sustainable development strategy.

The main criteria for selecting projects for

targeted financing by "green" instruments were:

 objectivity in terms of environmental impact

and transparency of calculations, for example,

reducing emissions of harmful substances into

the atmosphere;

 the importance of environmental impact

compared with alternative types of passenger

transportation.

3.4 Justified Support for Green

Finance Instruments for the

Implementation of Environmental

Infrastructure Projects

Green finance instruments are used both within the

framework of public-private partnerships and during

corporate projects launching. These include green

loans, green bonds, securities, and sovereign green

bonds. So far, there are only a few Green players in

the country among funds and banks. Due to the lack

of a well-developed legal framework in the field of

green financing and regulations on investments in

such instruments for long-term investors, the

development of the transport sector in Russia is

inactive. At the same time, business is especially

interested in a timely “readjustment” to responsible

financing, since otherwise it is likely to lag behind

developed countries and lose the opportunity to raise

money in the global financial market due to non-

compliance with environmental standards.

According to study by the World Bank Group,

Russia will need about 4–8 trillion rubles in financing

to move to the best available technologies as part of

Priorities of JSC "Russian Railways" in the strategy of sustainable

development

Construction of treatment

facilities to reduce pollutant

emissions

Construction of new railway lines to

reduce environmental impact

Electrifying track sections to

reduce greenhouse gas emissions

Activation of Sustainable Development Mechanisms on the Base of Green Projects of the Rail Transport

the “greening” and “decarbonization” of the economy

(considering this need for industry as well).

Moreover, according to assesments in this study,

investments by 2020, taking into account climatic

factors, were supposed to amount to about $ 9.3

billion in renewable energy sources (RES) and $ 47

billion in urban infrastructure (of which 47% -

modernization of buildings, and 13% - transport).

This includes projects in the energy sector, waste

disposal, water treatment, transport, construction.

The World Bank indicates that the transition to a

Green economy in Russia is possible through the

development of Green public procurement, especially

considering that government customers are a

significant segment of consumption in a country with

a market accounting for about a third of GDP.

Over the past few years, the global green finance

market and especially in its broadest part - the

segment of green bonds - has seen a steady growth

and popularization of this financial instrument. One

of the participants in the green bond market is Russian

Railways (Table 1).

Table 1. Issues of green bonds of Russian Railways (Forum 1520, 2020).

Name of indicator

Bond code

XS1843437036 CH0522690715 RU000A102564

Issue

May 2019: The first

deal of Green bonds of

Russian Railways

March 2020: Issue of

Russian Railways Green

Bonds in CHF

September 2020: Issue of Perpetual bonds of

Russian Railways

Standards

International Capital

Markets Association

(ICMA)

International Capital

Markets Association

(ICMA)

International Capital Markets Association

(ICMA), VEB RF

Price

determination date

/ Book closing date

May 16, 2019 March 5, 2020 September 24, 2020

Maturity

May 23, 2027 (8

years)

March 12, 2026 (6

years)

Without fixed maturity

Issue value € 500,000,000 CHF 250,000,000 RUB 100,000,000,000.

Coupon 2.200% fixed, annual 0.840% fixed, annual 7.25% floating, every 182 days

Key details of the

deal

The first ever Green

Eurobond issue in

Russia and in CIS

The first ever Green

Eurobond issue in Swiss

francs in Russia and in

CIS

The first bond issue in the history of Russia,

which received confirmation of compliance

with Russian and international standards of

Green financing

3.5 The Parameters of the Compliance

of the Strategy for the Development

of Railway Transport in Russia,

Including Urban Rail Transport,

with the Goals of Sustainable

Growth Have Been Established

Over the nine months of 2020, the situation mostly

hasn't changed. The use of funds for the Environment

reached only 30.4 billion rubles, or 42.2%

(Investments in infrastructure. Ecology. 2020).

According to this indicator, it is in the penultimate

place among national projects: only the Digital

Economy is worse, which only 20.6% of the approved

money has been spended (Table 2).

4 DISCUSSION

A new vision of economic growth through

infrastructure investment and job creation with a

focus on green development appeared in 2007 after

the global world crisis, when the green sectors of the

G20 economies took up about 16% of anti-crisis

expences. This situation can be viewed as the primary

pilot for the Green New Deal concept. At that time,

Russia did not make possible to switch to a diversified

economic development course. Currently, this

transition is not only possible, taking into account the

relatively favorable economic situation, but also

necessary, since the omission of the possibility of

avoiding dependence on raw materials can have

irreversible consequences for the national economy

of the Russian Federation.

The transition to a sustainable global economy

requires

increased financing for investments that

WFSDS 2021 - INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC FORUM ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC SYSTEMS

Table 2. The parameters of the compliance of the strategy for the development of rail transport in the Russian Federation with

the goals of sustainable growth (source - compiled by the author).

National projects National goals State programs

Sustainable

Development Goals

- "Comprehensive Plan for the

Modernization and Expansion

of the Main Infrastructure"

- "International Cooperation

and Export" (89.1 and 49.6)

- Technological Development

Accelerating.

- Ensuring Accelerated

Adoption of Digital

Technologies

- Entry of the Country into

the Top-5 Largest Economies

in the World

- "Development of the

Transport System"

- "Scientific and

Technological

Development"

Resilient

Infrastructure,

Inclusive and

Sustainable

Industrialization and

Innovation

- "Environmental Protection"

(66.3 and 42.2)

- "Economic Development and

Innovative Economy"

- "Development of Industry

and Increasing its

Competitiveness"

- "Reproduction and Use of

Natural Resources"

- Technological Development

Accelerating.

- Ensuring the Accelerated

Adoption of Digital

Technologies.

- Entry of the Country into

the Top-5 Largest Economies

in the World

- Ecology

Transition to

sustainable

consumption and

production modeles

- "Digital Economy" (73.4

20.6)

- "International Cooperation

and Export"

- Ensuring the Accelerated

Adoption of Digital

Technologies.

- "Economic Development

and Innovative Economy"

- "Development of

Foreign Economic

Activity"

- "Scientific and

Technological

Development of Russian

Federation"

Strengthening the

means to achieve

sustainable

development and

revitalizing global

partnership

mechanisms

provide environmental and social benefits. The

capital market through green, social and sustainable

bonds and also bonds linked to sustainability, can

play an important role in raising capital to finance

these needs.

The main discussion about the goals and essence

of sustainable growth, shown by Eileen de Jong,

Marjanneke J. Vijge (2021), confirms that the

problem of sustainable development is becoming of

great importance for global and national economies

and coordinated actions between them. At the same

time, the importance of the SDGs is emphasized in

the formation of relations: developed and developing

economies, towards partnership and management of

the agreed SDGs in the interests of global growth.

Thus, a comparative analysis of sustainable

development goals and programs carried out by

Ranjbari, et. al. (2021) shows the extent and direction

of their changes because of of Covid-19 influence.

The author's systematization of 17 sustainable

development goals in five areas made it possible to

identify priority ones in the current environment:

SDG 12 (Responsible consumption and production)

and SDG 9 (Industrialization, innovation,

infrastructure), that, makes it possible (in their

opinion) to implement the remaining SDGs,

primarily, ensuring solutions to poverty eradication,

good work and partnerships for sustainable

development. The results of quantitative studies of

programs implemented under the SDGs, presented in

the work, determine the vector of harmonization of

research related to Covid-19 in the field of

sustainability.

Implications for the core SDGs: poverty

alleviation, good health and well-being, marine and

terrestrial ecosystem conservation and actions

because of climate changing have been explored

(Richard Fenner and Thomas Cernev, 2021). The

authors ground the need to shift the accents of the

SDGs to planetary and human health, arguing that

they exactly ensure progress in achieving all the

sustainable development goals. The scenario analysis

Activation of Sustainable Development Mechanisms on the Base of Green Projects of the Rail Transport

made in the work shows the priority of the economic

imperative in terms of providing humanity with

livelihoods. At the same time, the risks of the new

geopolitics are emphasized.

Issa Ibrahim Berchin, José Baltazar Salgueirinho

Osório de Andrade Guerra (2020) believe that the

rapid and severe economic Covid-19 crisis for all

countries threatens the achievement of sustainable

development goals, changing their priorities.

An analysis of 75 national SDGs implementation

reviews conducted by researchers Viktor Sebestyen,

Endre Domokos, Janos Abonyi (2020) showed that

gender equality is the most discussed goal worldwide

(77% of analyzed voluntary national reviews). Goog

work and economic growth is the second most studied

goal at 76%, while zero poverty is the least targeted

goal, mentioned in only 48% of national documents.

Compromises between environmental and social

priorities are suggested by Yang et al. (2020) using

synergistic effects from combinations of SDGs (EU).

The greatest synergies were found in SDG 1 (Poverty

Alleviation), mainly SDG 2, SDG 3 (Good health and

well-being), SDG 5 (Gender equality) and SDG 8

(Goog work and economic growth ”).

Along with the need for sustainable development,

the time required for transdisciplinary approaches and

collaboration to bridge the gap between science and

practice is constantly growing (Jost et al. 2021). This

study explored the feasibility of developing an online

platform called CoLabS specifically for virtual

meetings and learning to support collaboration within

and between communities to accelerate efforts to

achieve sustainable community development

CoLabS: A Collaborative Space for Transdisciplinary

Work in Sustainable Community Development.

A methodology for measuring performance in

achieving the Sustainable Development Goals

associated with the transition to green growth is

presented in Acosta et al. (2020). The article

discusses the results of achieving the Sustainable

Development Goals (SDGs) in the field of protecting

natural capital by dividing the concept of green

growth into four main components (i.e.

environmental quality, reducing greenhouse gas

(GHG) emissions, protecting ecosystems and

biodiversity, and also cultural and social value). The

work fills an important research gap as the

comparative analysis of sustainability targets clearly

articulates indicators of protecting natural capital

against global green growth indices.

Jonathan Moyer and Steve Hedden (2020)

examines a dynamic baseline scenario for global

development “midway” (Common Socioeconomic

Pathway 2) using the model integrated assessment

("International Future"). The authors suggest that for

all variables studied here (nine indicators for 186

countries = 1674 indicators for countries), 43% have

already reached the target values by 2015. Targets

shall be projected to be reach 53% variables for

countries by 2030.

Apparently, research on this question is at an early

stage of development. We have the opportunity to

observe the process of transition to new standards,

technologies and tools that may be successful or fail

in the future, but, nevertheless, are of exceptional

value for science.

5 CONCLUSIONS

The study confirms that Russia and the transport

sector in particular have made little progress in

solution of global environmental problems. At the

same time, the format of sustainable development of

rail transport based on "green" projects is not only

useful in terms of protecting and restoring the

environment, but also relatively profitable, since it

assumes the presence of "green" investments from

private business, which generates the idea of

environmentally friendly transport as financially

attractive. In fact, any infrastructure projects can be

considered sustainable if they comply with the

principles of sustainable development. In a narrower

sense, “green” can be any initiative that meets certain

environmental requirements. In world practice, there

are facts when infrastructure facilities were created

using PPP mechanisms and were subsequently

certified according to "green" standards.

Undoubtedly, the shift in stereotypes about

development will lead to the transformation of

production and consumption technologies, which, in

turn, will affect the emergence of new business

models of transport companies and a change in the

structure of the cost of transport services.

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