September 06, 2013
September 6, 2013, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation provided the environmental rating of the RF cities for the year 2012 on a press-conference in RIA «Novosti. Rating for 2012 comprised 85 Russian cities. Environmental rating technique covers environmental issues and takes into account international recommendations and the experience of similar ratings for other countries and regions. The rating and estimation procedures correspond to world standards and criteria of the Organization for economic cooperation and development (OECD). Environmental rating technique has been created prepared by Ernst & Young for the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation.
Today, more than half the world's population and 74 percent of Russians live in cities.
Russian cities included in the environmental rating are home to over 57 million people (54% of the number of citizens in Russia).
Environmental quality in cities is one of the determining factors of living and working conditions of people. The efforts of the city authorities for creating a favorable living environment in the cities and increasing of resource efficiency make a major contribution to development of Russian economy. As the Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental of the Russian Federation Rinat Gizatulin noted during the press conference, the rating was composed of 7 key categories: air, water consumption and water quality, waste management, use of territories, transport, energy consumption, environmental management.
Cities Kursk, Moscow, Kaluga, Saransk, Izhevsk, St. Petersburg gained a lead in the total audience rating of the urban environment in 2012. Cities Makhachkala, Vologda, St. Petersburg, Tambov, Penza, Tula leaded in the category “Air”. Anadyr, Kursk, Orel, Moscow, Ulan-Ude, Naryan-Mar took first six places in the category “Water Consumption and Water Quality”. Cities Yaroslavl, Velikiy Novgorod, Perm, Izhevsk, Cheboksary, Murmansk leaded in the category “Waste Management”. Vladikavkaz, Vladivostok, Kazan, Belgorod, Ivanovo, Yaroslavl were leaders in the category “Use of Territories”. Velikiy Novgorod, Kemerovo, Kursk, Moscow, Volgograd, Ivanovo leaded in the category “Transport”. Izhevsk, Arkhangelsk, Magas, Moscow, Tambov, Tyumen leaded in the category “Energy Consumption”. Saransk, Togliatti, Naryan-Mar, Chita, Abakan, Grozny leaded in the category “Environmental Management”.
Cities failed to provide a sufficient data level and probably do not have systems for the collections of reliable statistical information on several important indicators in the field of environmental protection become the outsiders of the environmental rating.
Rinat Gizatulin said: “Preparation of the annual environmental rating for the major cities of Russia is carried out by the subordinate agencies of the Ministry of Russia and the company Ernst & Young. Official requests for the data capturing are sent to all subjects of the Russian Federation. The rating information for 2011 was gathered by 82 cities-capitals of subjects. At the term of 2012 Togliatti, Stary Oskol and Gubkin submitted their questionnaires on its own initiative. We are pleased to note the increase in the number of rating participants”.
According to the Deputy Head of Ministry of Natural Resources, the most important problem to compile the rating is different systems for statistical information capturing used in the cities participating in the rating. “However, the results of the rating for 2012 showed the overall positive trend towards the provision of more detailed information on all categories. We hope that this information will be taken into consideration by city authorities in the planning and development of environmental activities”, - said Rinat Gizatulin.
Concluding his speech the Deputy Minister emphasized that this method not only allowed to estimate the urban environment quality in our country but also to compare our indicators with analogical indicators of other countries. “The Rating shows that the Russian cities, located in the top ten, not at all inferior to the major cities of the world, and according to some criteria are even better”. In particular, year by year results of air-quality monitoring in Moscow are compared with other cities of the world (London, Paris, Hong Kong, Stockholm, New York). According to the monitoring data, air quality on residential areas in Moscow is comparable to the quality of air in New York. Near highways pollution is higher than in Paris, Stockholm and London. And Moscow ranked first among all major cities in the category “Settlement gardening”.
“This rating is very important from the point of view of ecological education of people, and also to assess the level of environmental development of the RF regions”, - said Rinat Gizatulin.
Let's remind, the first ecological rating of the large cities of Russia for 2011 and the first quarter of 2012 was calculated for 82 cities, representing subjects of the Russian Federation and prepared by the Ministry of Russia and published in June 2013.