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PhD in Law, Associate Professor of the Department of International Law of the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia

Annotation:

The article analyzes the history of the formation of the functions of international environmental management in the European Union. The main stages of the formation of environmental policy and law in the European Union are considered. An assessment of the role of the Single European Act of 1986 in this process is given. It is proved that for the first time the principle of subsidiarity was introduced into the practice of the EU in relation to the field of environmental policy. The main principles of the environmental law of the European Union, its goals and objectives are listed. The problems of the correlation of the supranational element in the activities of the European Union with state sovereignty and the functioning of individual main EU bodies on the basis of coordination are investigated. The main achievements in the field of EU environmental policy are given, it is stated that the main obstacle to achieving positive results environmental policy of the European Union were the differences in the level of stringency of environmental standards in different Member States, which have had and continue to have an impact on trade and economic relations. It is concluded that in order for the EU to remain a leader in solving environmental problems, it still has to do a lot to harmonize the national environmental legislation of the member states. Much attention is paid to the contribution of the EU court to the formation and development of environmental policy and the law of the European Union.

Keywords:

international management, environmental policy, supranationality, environmental standard, state sovereignty, international trade, global climate change, waste.

First of all, I would like to point out that in last years employees of the Department of International Law of RUDN University as part of various teams of authors took an active part in the preparation and publication of a number of textbooks and manuals, in which various aspects of European Union law are carefully and comprehensively analyzed. In 2010, the textbook "Legal Basis for Economic and Social Regulation of the EU" was published, edited by A.O. Inshakova. In 2012, the staff of the department prepared the textbook "Fundamentals of European Integration Law" edited by A.Kh. Abashidze and A.O. Inshakova, and in 2013 a number of employees of the department took part in writing the textbook "European Union Law" edited by A.Ya. Kapustina. The author of this article also had to turn to the problems of environmental law of the European Union in 2010 in connection with an attempt to give a periodization of the history of the development of this law.

This article will attempt to outline in the most general terms the elements of international environmental management in the practice of the European Union.

Let us immediately emphasize that the European Union has created one of the strongest and most innovative systems of measures and measures to protect the environment in the world. In the development of EU policy today, environmental policy occupies an equal position in terms of weight with economic policy. Despite the heterogeneous composition of the members of the European Union, he managed to develop a common platform on environmental issues such as climate change, regulation of the circulation of chemicals, biosecurity, etc. And this despite all the difficulties that the member states of the European Union had to face due to imbalance in international trade caused by the operation of various environmental standards in areas that were predominantly cross-border in nature. Today it can be argued that the EU environmental practice is a model for other states and regions. Behind all this is the political will and support from civil society. Over the years, legal frameworks have been created to enable the EU to develop measures to protect the environment.

The EU provides an important model to study, being the most developed international regional organization with a comprehensive regime for environmental policy and international environmental management.

Since 1992, when the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development was held in Rio de Janeiro, the EU has played a particularly large role in promoting international environmental agreements, encouraging their signing and ratification by member states. As a result of its enlargement, the European Union is now shaping environmental policy from the Baltic to the Aegean Seas. New EU accession states must transpose into their national legislation the rules of directives and other sources of EU environmental law, known as EU environmental law.

The Treaty of Rome in 1957, which established the European Economic Community, initially did not contain an indication of the scope of environmental protection. The birth of the environmental policy of the EEC is usually associated with 1972, when, under the impression of the results of the work of the Stockholm Conference on the problems of the human environment, the organization began to adopt environmental programs (in total, 3 of them were adopted in the EEC). Over the next ten years, the EEC adopted more than 20 directives covering air and water pollution, waste management, noise reduction, protection of endangered species of flora and fauna, environmental impact assessment and other issues.

The next milestone was the Single European Act of 1986, which added a new section to the Treaty of Rome that formally defined the objectives and procedures of the EEC in the field of environmental policy and called for "balanced growth" by integrating environmental policy into other areas of decision-making. The Single European Act for the first time placed the problem of environmental conservation in the area of ​​Community interests.

The following principles of environmental policy and law of the European Union were enshrined in the Single European Act: precautions, prevention of environmental damage, elimination of environmental damage by eliminating, as a matter of priority, its root cause, “the polluter pays” (paragraph 2 of article 130 r). The same article provided for the integration of requirements related to the preservation of the environment in other areas.

It should be noted that the Act fixed the principle of subsidiarity exclusively for the EU environmental policy. Environmental policy, as P.A. Kalinichenko, became a kind of "field of experiments", an area in which the principle of subsidiarity was tested and only later was extended to other EU policies.

Later there was the Treaty of Maastricht, the Treaty of Amsterdam, and finally the Treaty of Lisbon, which did away with the three pillars established by the first two. The Treaty of Lisbon declared for the first time that the fight against climate change is one of the objectives of the EU.

Within the framework of the European Union, at present, the main structural units involved in the development of environmental policy are: the European Council, the Council of Ministers, the European Commission, the European Parliament and the EU Court of Justice. There are also secondary institutions, including the European Environment Agency.

The most important decisions shaping the environmental policy of the EU are taken at meetings of the heads of member states within the framework of the European Council; and more specific decisions - at the meetings of the Council of Ministers for the Environment. All adopted directives must be implemented in the national legislation of the Member States within two years. At the same time, the Lisbon Treaty eliminated the right of veto from member states. Since the Single European Act of 1986, which first introduced qualified majority voting on certain environmental issues, the number of such issues that are decided by qualified majority votes has steadily increased.

As far as the European Commission is concerned, from 2014 the number of Commissioners will have to be two thirds of the number of Member States. The tasks of the Commission include initiating the adoption of EU legislation and monitoring its implementation. The Commission is also authorized to negotiate on behalf of the European Union on the conclusion of international treaties.

Between 2002 and 2012 The priority areas of activity of the European Commission were: climate change, nature and biodiversity, environment, health and quality of life, as well as natural resources and waste.

The European Parliament is directly elected by the voters in each country and seeks to reflect diverse interests political parties and groups throughout Europe. It is the Parliament that approves or rejects draft laws coming from the European Commission. At the same time, the European Parliament does not have the right of legislative initiative.

Particularly noteworthy is the EU Court of Justice, which has made a great contribution to the development and formation of EU environmental law. Since the end of the 70s. In the 20th century, the decisions of the Court of Justice of the European Communities began to serve to establish the ecological direction as one of the main ones in the activities of the EEC. Two precedent-setting decisions can be noted in the cases brought by the Commission against Italy in connection with the fact that the latter did not take measures to implement the provisions of the directive on cleaning products and the directive on the sulfur content of certain fuel oils and thereby violated Art. 100 of the Treaty of Rome. A significant contribution of the EU Court of Justice to the formation of environmental policy should be recognized as its decision to allow member states to keep in force those laws that exceed the requirements of the all-Union standards.

Leaving outside the scope of this study the question of whether the EU is an international intergovernmental organization, which has been discussed among scientists for many years, let us turn to the assessment of the European Union as a multi-level management system in the field of environmental protection.

The European Commission and Parliament can be seen as supranational bodies, while the Council is still an intergovernmental structure.

The EU operates the principle of subsidiarity, according to which decisions are taken at Union level only when they cannot be more effective at the level of individual Member States.

One of the main challenges facing the EU was to find ways to accommodate different levels of environmental commitment and regulation without weakening the ultimate goals. This is especially acute with each new enlargement of the EU membership. As an example, one can refer to the tax introduced by the EU in 2008 on the emission of "greenhouse" gases by aircraft, as well as the establishment of new environmental requirements for exhaust gases. cars. A similar situation was observed in the decision to reduce by 8% the volume of emissions of "greenhouse" gases according to the Kyoto Protocol of 1997 in the period from 2008 to 2012. in relation to the level of 1990, as well as to provide 20% of renewable energy sources in the energy supply of the EU by 2020.

The EU is at a turning point in its evolution. There is no doubt that the EU has made great strides towards protecting the environment over the past four decades and is now entering a new phase in the formation and implementation of environmental policy. Several decades after the introduction of fairly detailed environmental directives and regulations, the EU, after the Maastricht Treaty in 1992, began to revise its approach, emphasizing the principle of subsidiarity. In response to Member States' demands for more freedom to implement EU environmental legislation, the Commission has opted for long-term broad directives based on sustainable development principles. It has also promoted the introduction of new policy instruments such as emissions trading, sharing agreements and labels to improve environmental performance and profitability. She also supported the Kyoto Protocol, developed the world's first international carbon trading scheme, and addressed the world community with far-reaching proposals.

Despite this, the EU faces serious challenges that need to be addressed if it is to remain a leader in the environmental field. Economic stagnation and high unemployment have largely "buried" the enthusiasm of public and government leaders to take on increased environmental responsibilities. The implementation of EU environmental legislation at the national level still leaves much to be desired. In addition, the accession to the EU of twelve new member states threatens to shift the attention of the EU from major global environmental issues to the interests of these Central and Eastern European states. However, from a global environmental perspective, the enlargement of the EU has led to a significant improvement in the environmental situation in the new states of the European Union.

ENVIRONMENTAL LAW IN THE EUROPEAN UNION AND ABROAD

T.V. Rednikova*

FOUNDATIONS OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

The basic principles of European environmental policy, in particular, formulated in § 2 Art. 174 of the Treaty on the Establishment of the European Community, as well as in other regulatory documents of the EU, were considered in sufficient detail in the works of Russian and foreign environmental lawyers. So, in the preface to the monograph by L. Kremer and G. Winter "Environmental Law of the European Union" O.L. Dubovik, emphasizing the unevenness of the information on European law presented in the Russian Federation, writes that “the most extensive information is presented on issues ... of the environmental policy of the European Union”1. Indeed, articles, sections of textbooks on environmental law and dissertations are devoted to this topic2.

Exploring the question of the legal force of the principles of European environmental law, I would like to first of all dwell on the conclusions of leading European lawyers -

* Junior Research Fellow in the Environmental Law Sector of the Institute of State and Law of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Candidate of Legal Sciences.

1 Kremer L., Winter G. Environmental Law of the European Union / Ed. O.L. Dubovik. M., 2007. S. 8.

2 See, for example: Dymov D.E. Legal and organizational aspects of the European policy in the field of environmental security: Diss. ... cand. legal Sciences. M., 2000.; Nikishin V.V. Principles of environmental policy in Russia and countries - members of the European Union // Actual problems of the modern state and law. Materials of the All-Russian scientific-practical conference. Saransk, May 22-23, 2008. M., 2009. S. 337-341; Stepanenko V.S. Legal foundations of the environmental policy of the European Union: goals, principles, actions / Ed. ed. O.L. Dubovik. M, 2004.

Proceedings of the Institute of State and Law of the Russian Academy of Sciences No. 2/2010

ecologists. Thus, Professor Jan H. Jans notes that according to Art. 174 of the Treaty on the Establishment of the European Community (hereinafter referred to as the EU Treaty)3 European environmental legislation must translate the principles contained therein into specific obligations for the member states of the Community4. According to Professors L. Kremer and G. Winter, these principles, due to their general formulation, provide the EU institutions with a wide choice of their application, “allow them to take certain measures to protect the environment and commensurate these measures with the objectives of the EU environmental policy”5. L. Kremer, analyzing the principles of the EU environmental policy, notes that those contained in Art. 174 of the EU Treaty, the principles apply to the environmental policy of the Community, but not to the environmental policy of the EU member states. They form an indicative framework for the Community authorities, oblige them

determine the Community's environmental policy and the resulting

from this individual measures in accordance with these principles.

Let us consider in more detail some principles of European environmental law.

The principle of a high level of environmental protection. According to § 2 Art. 174 of the EU Treaty, the Community, when applying this principle, must take into account the environmental situation in the various regions of the Community. This fundamental principle of environmental policy is also mentioned in § 3 Art. 95 of the EU Treaty (“In matters relating to health, safety, environmental protection and consumer protection, the European Commission relies on a high level of protection, taking into account in particular all new developments based on scientific evidence”7) and in Directive 96 /61 about

3 See: URL: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/en/treaties/dat/12002E/htm (accessed 3 March 2010).

4 See: Jan H. Jans. European Environmental Law. Groningen, 2000. P. 9.

5 Kremer L., Winter G. Decree. op. S. 28.

6 See: Dubovik O.L., Kremer L., Lubbe-Wolff G. Ecological law. Textbook / Resp. ed. O.L. Dubovik. M., 2005. S. 132-133.

integrated prevention and reduction of environmental pollution8.

With regard to the production and circulation of products, the application of this principle is important for all stages of its life cycle, including its cross-border movement within the EU.

The precautionary principle. This principle is based on the following premise: if there are serious suspicions that the consequences of the intended action may have a negative impact on the environment, it is better to take action to prevent them before it is too late than to wait for scientific evidence to conclusively prove this cause and effect. connection. In other words, the principle reveals the premise of the potential danger to the environment of any proposed activity. As noted by V.S. Stepanenko, “this principle allows us to act in defense of the environment at an earlier time period. This means that prevention of harm is prioritized over reparation.”9 As an illustration, the example of Directive 94/62 on packaging and packaging waste10 is given, according to which best remedy reduction of waste from packaging is to reduce their volume. Another interpretation of this principle is the right of the Community to establish such a level of protection for the environment, man, animal and flora which it considers appropriate11.

V.T. Kalinichenko believes that “the avoidance of harm to the environment is carried out by reducing risks to zero. Environmental harm prevention activities include control over all projects and various activities that may adversely affect the state of the environment, through a procedure for pre-

8 Abl.EG. 1996. No. L. 257/26.

9 Stepanenko V.S. Implementation of environmental policy in the conditions big city: Diss. ... cand. legal Sciences. M., 2005. S. 92.

10 Abl.EG. 1994. No. L. 365/10.

11 See: Jan H. Jans. Op. cit. P. 33-34.

a rigorous assessment of their impact on the environment”12.

The application of this principle in relation to the production and circulation of products consists in a preliminary assessment of the risk of its potentially negative impact on the environment at all stages of the life cycle and the search for ways to minimize such impact.

The principle of prevention and prevention. As most authors note, this principle is closely related to the previously stated “precautionary” principle. According to Jan H. Jans, the latter is the "preceding step" of the principle of prevention13. Its application allows taking measures to protect the environment at the most early stages impact on it, since it is always much easier to prevent a negative impact than to eliminate its consequences. L. Kremer notes that “prevention is more cost-effective than the elimination of the consequences and restoration of the state

environment".

The source principle. The significance of this principle lies in the priority fight against negative environmental impacts at the source of such impact. According to this principle, damage to the environment should not be prevented by using “technology at the end of the pipe”. For example, pollution control applications atmospheric air air emission standards harmful substances is preferred over ambient air quality standards15.

With regard to the production and circulation of products, the application of this principle consists in the application of the most environmentally friendly methods of extraction and processing of raw materials for production, the use of such materials and production

12 Kalinichenko V.T. Legal regulation of environmental protection in France and Italy: Diss. ... cand. legal Sciences. M., 2008. S. 28.

13 See: Jan H. Jans. Op. cit. P. 35.

14 Dubovik O.L., Kremer L., Lubbe-Wolff G. Decree. op. S. 137.

15 See Winter G. The Legal Nature of Environmental Principles in International, EC and German Law // Principles of European Environmental Law / Ed. by Prof Richard Macrory. Groningen, 2004. P. 12.

natural processes that allow the least harm to the environment in the production process. An example of the application of the “source” principle is the obligation to apply the “best available technology” (best available techniques - BAT), regulated by Council Directive 96/61 / EC of September 24, 1996 on integrated pollution prevention and control (Integrated pollution prevention and control - IPPC)16 Paragraph 17 of the Directive states that “emission limit values ​​and emission parameters or technical measures corresponding to them shall be determined on the basis of the best existing technologies».

According to Art. 2 of the Directive, best available technologies are understood to be the most efficient and advanced stage in the development of industrial activities and methods of operation of facilities, which indicate the practical suitability of certain technologies to provide a basis for setting emission limit values ​​intended to prevent or, if this is not practicable, reduce emissions and impact on the environment as a whole. The best technologies are those technologies that are most effective in providing an overall high level of environmental protection as a whole.

In determining the best available techniques, particular attention should be paid to the considerations set out in Annex IV of the Directive, taking into account possible costs and benefits, as well as the principles of precaution and prevention. Namely:

use of low-waste technology; the use of less harmful substances; stimulating the regeneration and recycling of substances produced and used in this technological process, and waste where possible;

the availability of comparable technological processes, production equipment or operating methods that have been successfully tested at an industrial level;

16OJ. L. 257. 1996. P. 0026-0040.

technological progress and the development of scientific knowledge and concepts;

nature, impact and volume of releases; date of commissioning of new or existing facilities; the period of time required to implement the best available technologies;

the consumption and nature of the raw materials (including water) used in the process and energy efficiency;

the need to prevent or minimize the overall impact of emissions on the environment and the hazards to which it is exposed;

the need to prevent accidents and minimize their impact on the environment.

The European Commission adopts and publishes BAT Reference Documents (BREFs). Currently, such documents are approved for 18 industries (for example, for the production of cooling systems, glass industry, ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, forging, metal and plastic processing, cement and lime production, waste incineration, meat and dairy industry, large power plants and etc.).

The use of transport and fuel materials that meet the most stringent environmental requirements allows minimizing the impact of products on the environment during their transportation.

The polluter pays principle. In accordance with this principle, the person who is responsible for causing such harm must pay for causing harm to the environment. The collection of pollution charges should encourage entities to use advanced technologies and produce products that pollute the environment to a lesser extent. Another aspect of the application of this principle is the adoption of environmental standards, following which manufacturers must invest additional funds in their production process to modernize it and introduce new technologies.

gii to meet the requirements of these standards.

The application of this principle should contribute to the development of technologies for the production of "environmentally friendly" products, which leads to a decrease in environmental pollution in the process of their production and consumption and, thereby, to a decrease in the costs of the manufacturer.

However, some authors point to the difficulties of practical application of this principle in the EU. Thus, L. Kremer notes that the idea of ​​the origin of the motivation of the harm-doer to prevent the costs caused by causing damage to the environment in the course of his activity “has - as a prerequisite - free economic system with free pricing and competition between various entrepreneurs, but in the EU such a system is partially embodied”17. In his opinion, it should also be taken into account that numerous environmental problems (climate change, forest loss) have an indeterminate cause18.

Providing conditions for protection. Where necessary, harmonization measures for environmental protection should include a clause on protection conditions allowing Member States to independently take measures for purely non-economic environmental reasons. The measures taken are subject to Community review. The inclusion of this principle in Community directives allows, for example, Member States to prohibit the circulation of a substance or product on their territory if there is reason to believe that their circulation leads to a risk negative influence on human or animal health

Thus, the principles of the EU environmental policy are directly related to the production and circulation of products, which, according to many researchers, are

17 Dubovik O.L., Kremer L., Lubbe-Wolff G. Decree. op. S. 138.

18 See: ibid. S. 139.

19 See: Winter G. Legal regulation of admission to the market of chemicals // Modern environmental law in Russia and abroad: Sat. scientific papers. M., 2001. S. 122-131.

temporary world is one of the main components

causing harm to the environment.

The problem of the impact of products in the process of its production and circulation on the environment should also be considered within the framework of the concept of sustainable development, which was put forward at a conference in Rio de Janeiro, which focused on the problem of preserving the environment for future generations.

In Russian environmental and legal science, this issue has been studied by many leading Russian environmental lawyers. One of the first to study the concept of sustainable development in his works was M.M. Brinchuk, who considers it an alternative to the concept of consumer attitude dominating all over the world human society to its nature and resources21. N.N. Moiseev, F.M. Rayanov, A.S. Shesteryuk22.

N.D. Vershilo defines sustainable development as “environmentally sound economic and social development achieved by ensuring that environmental requirements are taken into account in the preparation, adoption and implementation of environmentally significant decisions for the benefit of present and future generations.

20 See: Führ M. (Hrsg.) Stoffstromsteuerung durch Produktregulierung. Rechtliche, ökonomische und politische Fragen. Baden Baden, 2000. S. 39.

21 See, for example: Brinchuk M.M. Ecological and legal foundations of sustainable development // Legal problems of environmental protection. M., 1998. S. 10-28; he is. The right to a favorable environment in the context of sustainable development // Human right as a factor in the strategy of sustainable development. M, 2000. S. 201-230; he is. On the Conceptual Apparatus of Environmental Law // State and Law. 1998. No. 9. S. 20-28; he is. Environmental Law of Russia and Environmental Human Rights in the Context of Globalization // Human Rights and Globalization Processes modern world/ Rev. ed. E.A. Lukashev. M., 2005. S. 182.

22 See, for example: Rayanov F.M. The concept of sustainable development and the Russian state-legal reality // Law and Politics. 2004. No. 12.; Shesteryuk A.S. Ecological law: questions of theory and methodology of analysis. SPb., 2000.

23 Vershilo N.D. Ecological and legal foundations of sustainable development: Av-toref. diss. ... doc. legal Sciences. M., 2008. S. 9.

This concept has found its reflection in EU law, although in recent years doubts have been expressed about the possibility of its implementation. Thus, according to L. Kremer, “at present, for the Community level, inflation can be noted in the use of the term “sustainable development”, in which the most diverse measures should be given an environmentally friendly character”24. The Communication of the European Commission on the EU Strategy for Sustainable Development25 states that sustainable economic growth also includes environmental needs.

Several initiatives, directly or indirectly addressing the problem of production and circulation of products, were put forward after the adoption by the European Union in July 2002 of the Sixth EU Environmental Action Program (Environmental Action Program)26, which determined the key goals and prospects for the EU environmental policy for the period from 2002 to 2012. It provides for a series of actions and strategic measures to be implemented to achieve these goals. "Horizontal" or "strategic" measures play an important role in current EU environmental policy, while the fate of specific specific measures and legislation is currently different. For example, legislation on the regulation of chemicals is on the rise, while legislation on the management of product waste is undergoing significant changes.

did not endure.

Speaking about the environmental policy of the EU in connection with the concept of sustainable development, one should also mention the Communications of the Co-

missions on the sustainable use of natural resources and

24 Dubovik O.L., Kremer L., Lubbe-Wolff G. Decree. op. S. 130.

27 See for example: Onida M. Products and the Environment // Reflections on 30 Years of EU Environmental Law / Ed. by Prof. Richard. Macrory. Groningen, 2006. P. 249.

Waste Prevention and Recycling29, which were prepared on the basis of the Sixth EU Program of Measures for the Protection of the Environment.

Sustainable use of natural resources is one of the instruments of environmental policy and is based on minimizing the impact on the environment of materials and resources (including energy) and, thus, is directly related to the turnover of products. This approach is based on a preference for a generalized view of the global relationship between material use and the environment, rather than a focus on point source environmental impacts.

The 2003 European Commission Communication on the Sustainable Use of Natural Resources made two assumptions. First, the environmental impact of resource extraction and use is often not well understood and, with a few exceptions, there is no real problem of resource scarcity. Second, economic growth is no longer linked to the use of materials, although the environmental impact of individual materials and energy consumption are increasing. It does not make any specific proposals to be included in the thematic strategy being developed on this issue in the future. It only calls for further research and analysis, goal setting and the use of a wide range of tools, especially market-oriented ones. One clear goal emerging from this document is an approach that focuses not on all environmental issues, but on those that have "the highest potential to improve the quality of the environment in the most cost-effective way".

Another document related to environmental policy in the field of production is the Environmental Technologies Action Plan (ETAP)30. In it "tech-

nology is seen as a vehicle for collaborative efforts for environmental protection and economic growth, especially by creating market conditions that encourage investment in the most environmentally friendly technologies31. The report on the implementation of this Plan, published by the Commission in January 2005, highlights the need to develop targets and set standards for key product groups. However, it has not yet been determined in detail how this should be done.

Summarizing the above, it should be noted that the EU has a number of principles and instruments of environmental policy, applying which at all stages of design, production and circulation of products, it is possible to minimize its impact on the environment at each stage of its life cycle. However, their practical application is associated with certain difficulties associated with the imperfection of legal norms, on the one hand, and the conflict of various policies, on the other.

In this regard, it is necessary to emphasize the importance of applying the principle of integration, which at present, according to V.T. Kalinichenko, is considered the highest priority and

promising.

The legislation of individual EU member states also mentions other principles of environmental policy33. Consider-

31 For more on this, see: Elizarov V.N. Environmental dimension of the investment policy of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development // Banking Law. M., 2006. No. 6. S. 54-57; Ivanova A.L. Useful experience of foreign investments in the field of ecology: Rev. on the book: Botger K. Obligations of foreign direct investment in the field of environmental protection in international law // Journal Russian law. 2003. No. 7. S. 171-175.

32 See: Kalinichenko V.T. Decree. op. S. 31.

33 See: Dubovik O.L. Environmental Code of Germany: Rev. on the book: Ecological code of Germany with comments. The project of an independent specialist Commission on the Environmental Code under the Federal Ministry of the Environment and Nuclear Safety // Law and Politics. 2000. No. 10. S. 144-148.

Let's take a look at some of them using the example of the Swedish Environment Code34.

Burden of proof principle. It consists in the fact that a person carrying out or planning economic activity must demonstrate that it is carried out in an environmentally friendly manner. The burden of proving this is always on the person carrying out such activities. Those persons whose interests are affected by this activity are not required to prove the opposite. The licensing process may also impose an obligation to prove conformity. general rules decision making. Such compliance should take place not only in the field of activity for which a permit or license is issued, but also in all others.

The principle of demonstrating a sufficient level of knowledge. This principle consists in the obligation of a person carrying out economic activities to demonstrate an appropriate level of knowledge about the nature and scope of such activities. This principle emphasizes the importance of the requirement to assess the impact of planned or ongoing activities on the environment. To this end, appropriate assessments of the potential negative impact on the environment of the planned activities should be carried out. As a result, the potential negative effect or damage to the environment must be prevented or significantly reduced. It is also necessary to demonstrate knowledge about the state of the environment in the region in which the activities are planned. In the event that there is no data on the possible impact of similar types of activities carried out, the person planning to carry out such activities should carry out appropriate scientific research at your own expense. The demonstrated knowledge should not be static, it should be improved depending on the changing state of the environment, the emergence of new technologies and the development of scientific knowledge.

34 URL: http://www.ud.Se/content/1/c6/02/28/47/385ef12a.pdf (accessed 28 January 2010).

The principle of using the best available technology. This principle applies both to the technology of production itself, and to the construction, operation and decommissioning of production facilities.

The principle of appropriate placement. It provides for the need to take into account the requirements of the relevant environmental legislation when placing production facilities on water sources or land plots. The location of facilities that have a negative impact on the state of the environment in the course of production activities should be chosen taking into account the minimization of such impact on the environment and human health. In practice, this principle is implemented at the stage of assessing the impact on the environment of the planned economic activity.

Principles of resource management and ecocycle. These principles are based on the need to ensure the efficient use of raw materials and fuel and energy resources in a "sustainable" manner, minimizing consumption and waste generation. The preferred types of energy used are solar, wind, hydro, bio-renewable energy sources.

Extraction, use, processing and recycling waste natural materials must be carried out with minimal use of the original natural resources and without causing damage to the environment.

The purpose of applying these principles is to create closed cycle production chains. However, their application can be difficult in conflicts of environmental interests, for example, in the case of a reduction in the amount of harmful emissions when using primary raw materials, in contrast to using secondary raw materials in a similar situation.

To implement these principles, the assessment of the life cycle of manufactured products is of great importance.

The principle of product selection. This principle is to use in the production process substances and components that are potentially less hazardous to the environment. It is closely related to the principles of a sufficient level of relevant

knowledge and application of the best available technologies and should be applied taking into account changes in knowledge about the effects of substances and components on the environment.

The principle of rationality. This principle consists in making decisions in terms of possible "costs and benefits" and avoiding unnecessary unjustified costs caused by the decisions made.

Stop activity rule. It consists in the application, in cases where the activity carried out, regardless of the precautions taken in accordance with the Swedish Environmental Code, causes or is likely to cause significant damage, a ban on such activities. The grounds for applying this rule may be a significant deterioration in the state of the environment or a threat to human health. This rule implies the establishment of a minimum level of acceptability of such activities for human health and the state of the environment, regardless of the economic interests and the importance of the activities carried out.

The principles of environmental policy considered in this article are directly related to the legal regulation of production and turnover of products in the EU, since they are fundamental in the Community's policy in the field of environmental protection. Taking into account these principles, the European Union and its member states are developing political instruments and programs that regulate the production and circulation of products.

It should also be noted that the European legislator, in the process of developing and improving the principles of environmental policy, takes into account the experience of their implementation, as well as modern scientific ideas about the impact of various adverse factors on the environment.

The positive experience of the EU in this area can be used by the Russian legislator in the development of appropriate programs and principles of environmental policy and legislative acts on the protection of the environment and its components.

Environmental protection, along with economic integration, is one of the priorities of the EU. Moreover, environmental policy is seen as an integral part of the European integration process. Over the past 20 years, European countries have adopted more than 200 laws and regulations related to environmental protection. The EU's environmental activities are based on the concept of sustainable development.
Environmental problems affect the activities of almost every EU institution (Council, Commission, European Parliament, Court of Justice, Accounts Chamber). The conductor of environmental policy in Europe is the Committee on Environmental Policy of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (ECE).
To solve environmental problems within the framework of a single European environmental space, there is a regional environmental organization - the European Environment Agency (EEA), designed to carry out reliable expertise in assessing the degree of environmental hazard, to promote the development of environmental legislation and create conditions for the implementation of programs in the field of environmental protection.
The European Community has broad competence in the field of ecology. At the same time, the competence of the EU in the field of environmental protection is shared with the Member States.
EU environmental law is based, on the one hand, on the various norms of the Community Treaty, on the other hand, there are a huge number of regulations, directives related to environmental issues.
Among the agreements concluded by the EU in the field of ecology, we can distinguish:
. contracts fully focused on the regulation of environmental protection;
. agreements containing separate provisions on environmental protection;
. contracts indirectly related to environmental protection.
It is customary to distinguish four stages in the activities of the European Community in the field of environmental protection: 1957-1972, 1972-1986, 1986-1992, 1992-present.
The first stage (1957-1972) begins with the emergence of the Community. However, the Treaty on the formation of the Community did not contain rules on environmental protection. Community activities were aimed at achieving other economically and socially significant goals and only indirectly affected the environmental sphere; environmental activities were carried out optionally.
The European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) also lacked environmental competence.
The second stage (1972-1986) begins with the decision to develop the organization's activities in the field of environmental protection. This was due to the development of bills in the participating countries, with environmental disasters (an industrial accident in Seveso (Italy, 1976)), and the intensification of international environmental cooperation. However, the provisions of the memorandum of association were not revised, and there was still no competence in the field of environmental protection. The activities of the Community for the protection of the environment began to be carried out through the implementation of additional competence. In 1973, the First Community Environmental Action Program was adopted, which defined the goals, objectives, principles and priority areas for the organization's environmental activities. Separately, specific environmental measures were envisaged for the coming years. The program had a significant impact on subsequent similar programs adopted in 1977 and 1983.
In the second period, the Community adopted a number of important acts that determined the procedure for assessing the impact on the environment and the standards for environmental pollution emissions.
The third stage (1986-1992) was associated with the completion of the formation of the Community's environmental policy, the consolidation of the relevant powers in the founding agreement. The goals and principles of environmental policy were fixed, and the powers for international cooperation were designated.
In relations between the Communities and the Member States in the field of environmental protection, the principle of subsidiarity was established, which, after the Maastricht Treaty of 1992, was extended to the entire joint competence of the Community and the Member States.
In the third period, mechanisms for environmental monitoring, environmental certification, collection and processing of environmental information were laid down, the first measures were taken to create a mechanism for financing and protect environmental rights.
The fourth stage (1992-present) began with the adoption of the Maastricht Treaty on European Union in 1992. The EU Treaty was supplemented by the environmental goals of the organization, environmental protection was recognized as one of the activities of the EU. In addition, the goals and principles of environmental policy were supplemented.
Among the objectives of the EU environmental policy were identified:
. environment protection;
. protection of human health;
. rational use of natural resources;
. promotion of international environmental cooperation.
Among the principles of the EU environmental policy were the following:
. the principle of subsidiarity, which means that the Community should act in those matters that the Member States cannot cope with on their own or the solution of which at the Community level will be more effective than at the level of the Member States;
. the principle of preventive action, that is, the recognition of preventive and preventive actions;
. the precautionary principle that the lack of scientific results on a specific problem should not lead to the cancellation of EU measures for the prevention of environmental pollution;
. compensation for environmental damage by eliminating the source of damage;
. the principle of environmental orientation, when any activity is carried out taking into account the needs of the environment;
. "the polluter pays";
. the principle of integration requiring the inclusion of environmental protection in the development and implementation of other Community policies.
In addition, when making decisions, in most cases, preference was given to the procedure of joint adoption.
The main tasks in the field of environmental protection, requiring coordination of efforts of all European countries, recognized as a solution to the following problems: climate change, depletion of the Earth's ozone layer, loss of biodiversity, increase in the number of technical accidents, management of fresh water sources, degradation of forest resources, coastal management, waste production and disposal, urban ecology.
The 1997 Treaty of Amsterdam, when the principle of environmental protection was designated as a principle of activity of the European Community, played a great role in determining the current competence of the EU in the field of environmental protection. The Nice Treaty of 2001 did not provide for any significant changes in the field of environmental protection.
On present stage features of the activities of the European Community in the field of environmental protection are:
. in the joint environmental competence of the EU with the Member States;
. the inextricable link between the environmental activities of the EU and other areas of integration;
. in the "dualism of competence", which is expressed in the fact that the organization is granted powers in the field of environmental protection by the founding agreement to directly achieve the goals of the EU environmental policy (Articles 174-176), as well as to achieve the goals of maintaining the functioning of the internal market (Article 95) .
The main areas of EU legal regulation of environmental protection include environmental standardization, environmental impact assessment; collection and processing of environmental information, environmental monitoring; environmental certification; environmental management and environmental audit; development of the financing mechanism; protection of environmental rights.
The last one is the most significant current trend in the development of EU environmental legislation.
In the Member States of the European Union, the following rights are guaranteed in the environmental field:
. fundamental environmental right - the right to a favorable environment;
. other environmental rights, which at the same time are guarantees for the implementation and protection of fundamental environmental rights;
. constitutional and other rights related to environmental (for more details, see Tretyakova A. A. Environmental rights of citizens under the legislation of the Member States of the European Union: abstract of thesis ... candidate of legal sciences. - M., 2001. - P. 8).
Among the most significant normative acts of European law, we note Directive 90/313/EEC on freedom of access to information about the environment of 1990, adopted with the aim of ensuring freedom of access and dissemination of environmental information held by authorities, as well as determining the limits of access to such information.
In 2003, a new Directive 2003/4/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council was adopted repealing Directive 90/313/EEC and on public access to environmental information, bringing Community legislation into line with the Aarhus Convention.
The Directive 85/337/EEC on the assessment of the impact of certain public and private projects on the environment of 1985, as amended by Directive 97/11/EC of 1997, is also essential for ensuring guarantees of environmental rights.
Additional mechanisms for the protection of environmental rights at the EU level are stimulated by the Sixth Community Action Program on the Environment, approved in 2002. Among its priorities is the development of EU legislation on environmental liability.
The most common form of public participation in environmental rule-making in the European Union has become association in environmental organizations or groups. The effectiveness of their actions in different Member States is different. The greatest activity of the public is typical for Great Britain, Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark, the least - for Ireland, Greece.
In the EU Member States, there are various possibilities to apply to the courts for the protection of environmental rights:
. the possibility of applying to the court for the protection of the environmental rights of any person (Holland, Ireland);
. the possibility of applying to the court for the protection of the environmental rights of any interested person (France, Great Britain, Spain, Sweden, Finland);
. the possibility of applying to the court for the protection of environmental rights only in case of violation of the individual rights of the plaintiff (Germany);
. the possibility of applying to the court for the protection of environmental rights, provided to the relevant associations (Italy, Greece) (See Environmental protection in the activities of the European Community (international legal aspect). - M., 2001; Kalinichenko P.A. Protection of environmental rights in legislation of the European Community // Ecological Law. - No. 2. - 2003. - P. 55-60).
At the present stage, the EU is improving the legal framework for environmental protection. Thus, the acts on environmental monitoring, environmental certification, environmental impact assessment, the mechanism for financing environmental activities, etc. have been updated. At the same time, attempts are being made to codify numerous norms in the field of environmental standardization.
Germany is considered the leader among the EU countries in the field of environmental protection.
Legal regulation in the field of environmental protection and the use of natural resources is concentrated here at the level of the federal lands and local authorities. The scope of powers of federal bodies in the field of environmental protection and regulation of the use of natural resources is limited to the development and implementation of federal environmental policy; lawmaking; legal regulation; coordination of environmental activities, environmental monitoring, international cooperation, including work with the European Union; regulation of production and use of all types of radioactive substances and atomic energy. The Federal Ministry for Environmental Protection, endowed not so much with executive as with management functions, is subordinate to a number of federal bodies. Among them are the Federal Ecological Service (responsible for expertise), the Federal Service for Nature Protection (unlike the former, its competence extends to the protection of nature and landscapes), the Federal Service for Radiation Protection, the Robert Koch Institute (responsible for the introduction of genetically modified organisms), etc.
At the state level, environmental management is organized differently, which is associated with differences in the size and structure of land. But the differences are in the name, not the features. At the government level, all Länder have their own environmental ministry as the highest level in the organizational hierarchy.
To date, the regulatory framework for environmental protection in Germany includes numerous legislative acts and legal provisions. Among them are the federal law on nature protection and landscape planning, laws on emissions, on genetic engineering, and on the inclusion of environmental issues in economic development plans. It should be noted that the regulatory system of environmental impact assessment was in effect here long before the adoption of the relevant EU Directive in 1985. In Germany, special attention is paid to environmental training of production personnel. Environmental protection is an area that provides jobs for a large part of the German population.
The number of enterprises engaged in the development of environmentally friendly and resource-saving technologies or offering services in the field of environmental protection is growing every year. A number of enterprises attract buyers with signs of environmentally friendly products. The German eco-label "Blue Angel" has become a successful tool for labeling eco-friendly products. The environmental criteria for the distribution of this sign are determined by a jury consisting of representatives of government bodies and public associations. At the same time, the criteria are formed in such a way that only especially environmentally friendly products get the right to introduce this sign and advertise their environmental friendliness. An important tool for creating an environmentally transparent market is the obligation to label environmentally relevant product qualities.
In recent years, the main emphasis in environmental protection policy has been placed on the gradual abandonment of the use of nuclear energy, the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions, and the development of closed-cycle production. Germany is leading the way in reducing carbon dioxide emissions.
In the field of climate protection, German environmental policy provides for efficient energy production; its rational use; increasing the use of renewable energy sources. Moreover, not only the use of energy-saving technologies is encouraged, but also investments in technologies based on the use of solar energy and wind energy are actively stimulated (in the latter, Germany also occupies a leading position). By 2010, it is planned to increase the production of electricity through the use of renewable up to ten percent. Concessional loans and grants are provided to promote energy conservation and the expansion of the use of renewable energy sources. Today, Germany is one of the leading exporters of environmentally friendly technologies.
Climate protection, economic growth, the competitiveness of the German economy and employment are seen as links in the same chain.
Germany is an active supporter of the Kyoto Protocol. The obligations arising from it - to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 21% by 2012 - (compared to the level of 1990) were already fulfilled in 2001 by 85%.
The line for phasing out the use of nuclear energy, fixed by the Federal Law of 2002, is connected with the problem of nuclear waste disposal and the consequences of possible accidents. It is planned to decommission all nuclear power plants by 2021.
Since 2000, the use of gasoline with lead additives has been completely banned in Germany; benefits are given to fuels that do not contain sulfur.
To maintain air purity, further regulations were adopted in 2001 aimed at reducing the emission of harmful substances (primarily such as sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, dust particles, lead, benzene and carbon monoxide), including by establishing a limit permissible level of their concentration, special emphasis was placed on informing citizens.
For the protection of marine resources, agreements on their protection were concluded with the countries of the basin of the North and Baltic Seas. Environmental fees, charges and taxes cover the discharge of wastewater. The payment for wastewater discharge depends on the volume of wastewater, the content of heavy metals, hydrocarbons, and nitrogen in them. In industry, housing and communal services, much attention is paid to the development of technologies to achieve the maximum reduction in water pollution. The transition of agricultural enterprises to organic farming is encouraged. The use of fertilizers is reduced, the risks associated with the use of pesticides for plant protection are reduced. In agriculture, new opportunities are spreading: for example, the industry is actively producing goods from vegetable raw materials: shaped parts for cars from flax, packaging from potato starch, etc.
Since 1996, Germany has been actively transitioning to a closed production cycle to ensure savings in raw materials and the development of low-waste technologies.
The system of sorting household waste is widespread. Appropriate containers (“white glass”, “dark glass”, “paper, cardboard”, “residual waste”) are not only installed in in public places, bus stations, public institutions, entertainment complexes, but also actively introduced by the Germans in their own living quarters.
According to the legislation, the manufacturer or owner is responsible for the waste. In practice, we are talking about a “dual system” in which participants collect and recycle used packaging materials from consumers. This is funded by the waste generating companies. Special rules apply to waste that requires high disposal costs (for example, used cars, old refrigeration units and televisions).
The scale of nature protection activities can also be judged by the presence in Germany of more than 6,000 landscape reserves and the declaration of more than 5,000 areas as nature reserves.
In the UK, a relatively soft legal regulation of environmental protection and the use of natural resources has been established. UK environmental legislation consists of a large number laws and regulations on the regulation of certain types of anthropogenic impact on the natural environment. A system of state bodies for environmental protection and the use of natural resources has developed here, headed by the Ministry of the Environment, which mainly performs a coordinating function. Since 1970, the Commission for the Protection of the Environment from Pollution began its work, which has the status of an independent non-governmental organization. It is entrusted with monitoring the effectiveness of environmental protection activities. The introduction of a system of payments for water use and discharge of industrial wastewater, taxation for the use of material (fossil fuel tax) has allowed the UK to significantly reduce government financial costs and transfer funds to environmental protection programs.
France has a large number of laws and regulations in the field of environmental safety and environmental protection. The main ones are the Law on Environmental Protection, adopted in 1976, the Law on Waste (1975) and the Law on Registered Buildings (1976). The French Criminal Code of 1994 spelled out the concept of environmental terrorism. France was one of the first countries to apply a system of charges for effluents or emissions.
A significant part of the work related to ensuring environmental safety is performed by the gendarmerie. Since 1992, a special department has been operating under the national command of the gendarmerie to coordinate actions in the field of environmental protection. A memorandum on nature and the environment is distributed among all units of the gendarmerie. However, the unclear legal status of the activities of the police and gendarmerie to ensure environmental safety, insufficient material equipment hinder the work of these structures.
The effectiveness of Swiss environmental policy, where the Confederation and the cantons are jointly responsible for environmental protection, is determined by the developed legislative framework, its precise execution with the involvement of law enforcement forces and significant financial costs.
The legal framework for environmental protection in Switzerland is the federal law on the Protection of Nature and Landscapes of 1966, requiring the authorities, in the performance of their tasks, to preserve natural and historical monuments. The Swiss Foundation for the Protection of National Nature is operating effectively.
In Belgium, the gendarmerie plays a significant role in solving the problem of environmental protection and ensuring environmental safety. Through access to information materials from other government departments and the use of measuring instruments, gendarmes can detect many environmental violations during patrols or stop organized criminal activities in the field of environmental protection. For the gendarmes, an "Environmental Guide" has been issued. In Belgium, environmental units are active.
The Netherlands pursues an active environmental policy. Its history dates back to the 60s. Later, a "Memorandum of Environmental Priorities" and "National Environmental Policy Plans" were adopted. The country proceeds from the possibility of coexistence of economic growth and improvement of the quality of the environment.
Implementation of eco-policy is carried out at the central and municipal levels. The overall coordination of environmental issues is handled by the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment, which is responsible for developing and implementing national environmental policy plans and annual National Environmental Programs. It is assisted by the ministries: economy; Agriculture; natural resource management; transport; water resources management.
In Norway, every two years the government provides parliament with reports on the state of the environment in the country and on environmental policy. A special role in the implementation of environmental policy is assigned to municipal authorities. Environmental protection legislation is directed directly at the source of discharges, and volumes are regulated through discharge permits. In Norway, industry itself is responsible for complying with environmental regulations. The state control system is based on inspection and system audit. The Norwegian Government Environment Fund is active in supporting environmentally friendly technologies.
Safety issues, technical solutions in the field of the external environment in the exploration and production of oil are coordinated by the Petroleum Directorate (NPD). Licenses are issued through tender rounds.
Since 1988, the National Office for the Investigation and Suppression of Economic and Environmental Crime, Ekokrim, has been operating in Norway. Under his control, guidelines are being prepared to combat environmental pollution and crimes against cultural property. The largest fine imposed in Norway was $300,000, the same amount as the largest confiscation. (Environmental policy / [edited by S.V. Ustinkin]. - Nizhny Novgorod, 2003. - P. 100).
In 1997, a long-term strategy program " norwegian house”, which was based on the production within the framework of an environmentally sustainable society. The following were identified as the main directions of environmental policy:
. developing a framework that encourages sustainable production and consumption;
. development of tools to control social development in the direction of stability and to guarantee effective action on environmental protection in various fields;
. international cooperation to solve global and regional environmental problems;
. activities to preserve biological diversity, reduce the spread of hazardous chemicals, reduce greenhouse gas emissions;
. involvement of industry, entrepreneurs and consumers in the work on sustainable development (see Report No. 58 of the Government of Norway "On the environmental policy of sustainable development" - (http://www.odin.dep.no)).

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Introduction

Natural resources are the most important element of human development. A significant part of the resources used by man is non-renewable. For the prosperous existence of society, to ensure sustainable and long-term economic development, a system is needed that can effectively manage natural resources.

Within the framework of the European Union, the EU Environmental Policy has been created for this purpose. It is aimed primarily at implementing the concept of "green economy". Also, the EU Environmental Policy is responsible for reducing the level of negative impact on the environment, natural resources, ecosystems, for improving their quality and effective use. It is for this purpose that a wide range of environmental policy instruments has been created and is being used. It includes tools such as the open coordination method, environmental labeling, and environmental management systems. However, these tools are currently not so widespread and the main mechanism for internalizing the negative impact on the environment and improving the state of natural resources are market mechanisms. Among them, environmental taxes should be singled out as the main mechanism. environmental policy tax

It is environmental taxes that are the main measure of impact of the EU Environmental Policy. They operate in nine major policy areas: energy, greenhouse gas emissions and those that deplete the ozone layer, air quality, transport, waste generated, water resources, chemical use, consumption and production, biodiversity, land use.

Thus, at the current stage, the issue of assessing the effectiveness of environmental taxes is particularly acute. On the one hand, they help to cope with the negative impact on nature, which is growing rapidly as production grows. On the other hand, they create incentives for producers and consumers to reduce the use of natural resources, make their consumption more efficient and adopt environmentally friendly technologies. Therefore, assessing the effectiveness of environmental taxes is important at this stage, since the result of their use has a direct impact on the state of the environment, natural resources, ecosystems, human health and economic development.

The purpose of this work is to evaluate the effectiveness of the use of taxation as an instrument of the EU Environmental Policy. As a problem, the identification of the mechanism of the impact of environmental taxes and factors affecting the effectiveness of their application is highlighted.

The main objective of this work is to determine exactly how and what factors influence the effectiveness of EU environmental taxation. At the same time, an important task of the work was to identify the goals and objectives of the EU Environmental Policy and analyze the tools used to achieve them. Also, one of the main objectives of the study was to analyze the impact of the EU environmental tax reform, its potential and real impact, as well as how to compensate for the negative effect of the distributional effect of environmental taxes.

The object of this work is taxation as an instrument of the EU Environmental Policy, while the subject is the effectiveness of the use of environmental taxes.

This work is based on the use of factor and regression analysis. 11 indicators were considered that characterize production and consumption, the state of the environment and the quality of state regulation to determine the effectiveness of the use of environmental taxation. Regression analysis was used to determine the nature of the relationship, and factorial to combine variables that are characterized high level correlations.

This work consists of three chapters. The first chapter analyzes the EU Environmental Policy, its goals and objectives, and also discusses its main tools to improve the state of the environment and economic well-being. The same chapter discusses the main types of environmental taxes used in the EU: taxes on vehicles, in the energy sector, on emissions and pollution, and on the use of natural resources. In the second chapter, a hypothesis was put forward about the dependence of the effectiveness of environmental taxes on indicators characterizing the economic and political development of the country and the state of its natural resources and ecosystems. An analysis was also made of the factors affecting the level of revenues from environmental taxes, and the effectiveness of their use was also assessed. The third chapter of this paper analyzes the reform of EU environmental taxes, its potential impact on improving the ecological state and economic well-being, based on the results in EU member states where certain structural changes in the tax system have been made. At the same time, this chapter discusses mechanisms to compensate for the negative impact of the environmental tax reform as a measure to change the tax system and a measure to redistribute revenues from environmental taxes.

Chapter 1. Goals, objectives and instruments of the EU Environmental Policy

1.1 EU environmental policy

The global economic crisis, rising commodity prices and a more conscious approach to the use of the environment have prompted the creation of the concept of a "green economy". This model largely reflects the understanding that economic growth, which is based on a constant increase in resource consumption and the level of emissions and pollution, cannot be consistent with the concept of sustainable development.

In principle, it can be said that the EU environmental policy, based on the concept of "green economy", is aimed at achieving two main goals. The first goal is to build such a model of economic development that will not include an increase in the volume of natural resources used, i.e. implies efficient use of resources. However, the efficient use of resources in itself does not guarantee a reduction or at least the maintenance of the level of resource consumption, there is still a problem of excessive demand. Thus, to achieve sustainability, you need to focus on the state of the ecosystem.

At the same time, it should be noted that in any case, along with these two points, it is necessary to consider the third task - improving the welfare of mankind. This policy element is very important because often the benefits from environmental management and the damages associated with environmental degradation are not always reflected in the form of market mechanisms, and, therefore, they need to be considered separately. At the same time, it is important to provide a system in which an equal distribution of the benefits and costs of economic restructuring is possible.

Such a concept is in many ways an abstract concept of a "green economy", so it was necessary to develop a clear understanding of the state of the economy and where changes should lead. For the European Union, in many ways, these clear goals and planned changes were described as part of the Europe 2020 development strategy. The first strategy in ecology was formulated in a report by the European Environment Agency in 2012. In this report, the first 6 EU environmental development goals were identified. In matters of biodiversity conservation, conservation status must be achieved species and created the Natura 2000 network, growth must be limited to combat climate change average temperature up to 2 C globally. The goals for water and air quality are to achieve a level of quality that does not lead to negative consequences for human health. Another important issue was to prevent the disappearance of biodiversity.

Thus, the results for 2015 turned out to be ambiguous, some of the goals, such as the conservation status of biological species and the use of water, were partially achieved, while other issues are characterized by a positive trend. However, they show that the EU has made significant progress towards greater resource efficiency, with more success in this area than in ecosystem conservation.

In 2013, the goals and objectives of the EU environmental policy were somewhat revised and formulated in a new report of the European Environment Agency from 2013. A total of 63 mandatory goals and 69 recommended targets were identified. Most of the stated goals and objectives are aimed directly at reducing the level of environmental pollution and reducing the use of natural resources, as well as generally improving the quality of the environment. The tasks also include indirect issues of the Environmental Policy such as collection of information and data, monitoring, creation of detailed plans to achieve the goals.

All goals and objectives of the Environmental Policy are defined for the period from 2013 to 2050 for nine main problem areas: energy, emissions of greenhouse gases and substances that deplete the ozone layer, air quality, transport, waste, water, use of chemicals, consumption and production, biodiversity, land use.

Thus, in the energy sector, the main goals are related to renewable sources and are united by the 20-20-20 plan. It assumes a 20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to 1990 levels, a 20% increase in energy efficiency by 2020 and a 20% increase in the share of renewable sources in energy consumption. The increase in energy efficiency should be to save 368 tons of oil equivalent by 2020. However, it should be noted that this task is largely reflected not in environmental directives, but in the EU Energy Efficiency Plan and the corresponding Energy Efficiency Directive. At the same time, renewable commitments are based on two previous targets: electricity from renewable sources should account for 21% of total energy consumption by 2010, and bioenergy use should be increased by at least 50% by 2010. compared with 2003 (from 69 million tons of oil equivalent to 150). Moreover, the EU has made commitments in this area in the framework of international cooperation, for example, the European Energy Charter of 1991, the Protocol on Energy Efficiency and Related Environmental Aspects to the Energy Charter.

As already noted, the EU has a goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2020, along with this goal, within the framework of the Environmental Policy, a task was identified to reduce the volume by 80-95% by 2050. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change believes that such a decrease will slow the rise in average temperature by 2 degrees. With regards to ozone-depleting substances, in accordance with the regulations, the production and use of hydrochlorofluorocarbons must be stopped by December 31, 2019. At the international level, their use is regulated by the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer and the Montreal Protocol.

In the field of air pollution, the main goal is to create a long-term Sixth Environment Action Program to achieve air quality that does not adversely affect health. For example, the 2020 target consists of a 47% reduction in life expectancy due to particulate matter in the air, a 74% reduction in excess acid deposition in forests and 39% in water bodies, and a 43% reduction in the negative impact of pollution on ecosystem. These targets lead to reductions in emissions of sulfur dioxide by 82%, nitrogen oxide by 60%, and ammonia by 27%. There are also EU Directives that set target values ​​for the concentration of nickel, arsenic, cadmium in the air.

In matters of protection of water resources, by 2020 the EU member states must reduce the negative impact on fresh resources, coastal and marine waters, improve the quality of water, its chemical composition and introduce standards for drinking water and for tap water. The main document regulating water resources is the EU Water Framework Directive of 2003. It applies to all water resources and ecosystems in the EU. It is in it that the main goal for water resources is formed - the achievement of a “good” water status. However, at the moment there is no clear definition of this term. On the one hand, this is the chemical status, i.e. compliance with standards for the content of hazardous substances in water, and on the other hand, what does ecological status mean - is not defined.

New targets have been formulated for waste and garbage - a program has been introduced to limit the use of non-recyclable materials by 2020. There is also the concept of a gradual transition to waste-free production. In particular, by 2030 EU member states should increase the share of packaging waste recycling to 75%, achieve the minimum required criteria for waste recycling, i.e. the percentage of recyclable material in the waste should be 75% for wood, 85% for ferrous metals, aluminium, glass, paper and cardboard, 60% for plastics. At the same time, the share of recyclable waste should increase to 65%, and the amount of household waste in landfills should be reduced to 10%.

If we consider the issue of biodiversity, the main goal for the EU is to preserve biodiversity and stop the degradation of ecosystems. To achieve this goal, 5 strategic objectives were adopted to be achieved by 2020: combating the causes of negative impacts on ecosystems, promoting sustainable use of resources, protecting resources, improving the state of the ecosystem through the planned management of the use of natural resources. Also, the rational use of forestry and fishing facilities, the protection of wild animals should be ensured, it is necessary to determine priority areas of invasive impact for the conservation of aquatic ecosystems.

The transport sector, in turn, combines targets to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants. With regard to greenhouse gases, emissions from passenger cars must be reduced. The Roadmap for a Resource Efficient Europe targets an average annual decline of 1% since 2012. On the other hand, the use of renewable energy should increase, while the amount of conventional fuels, mainly gasoline and diesel, should decrease by 6% by 2020. Also, there should be a widespread transition to the use of the Euro 6 standard, which will reduce pollution and emissions by 60-80%.

In the field of chemical use, by 2020, chemicals, including pesticides, that do not pose a significant threat to human health and the environment should be used. For this, lists of hazardous substances prohibited for use, “restrictive” lists of substances, the production and use of which are high-risk, are created. It also regulates the use of biocidal products, substances containing viruses or fungi, and prohibits the export of metallic mercury and some of its compounds.

The targets for sustainable consumption and production are mainly formulated in the 2011 Energy Efficient Europe Roadmap. Thus, by 2020 subsidies for environmentally unsound production should be eliminated, revenues from environmental taxes should be increased, food waste should be halved, economic incentives should be introduced to encourage environmentally friendly production, economic growth and well-being should cease to be directly dependent on the volume of used natural resources.

To achieve these goals, the instruments of the EU Environmental Policy are applied.

1.2 EU Environmental Policy Instruments

A wide range of tools are being used to reduce negative impacts and improve the environment and human health. In recent years, the focus has shifted from traditional market-based instruments to new soft power mechanisms. However, it is still market instruments that play the most important role and are most often used.

Market mechanisms, unlike new instruments, are applied within the framework of EU legislation and are regulated. Thus, in order to systematize and control the use of soft power, the White Paper regulated the use of these tools in combination with traditional ones or separately. As a result, all tools can be divided into several groups: open coordination method, market tools, voluntary agreements, information tools - eco-labels, environmental management systems.

One of the soft power tools was the method of open coordination. This mechanism was first mentioned in European strategy in employment under the Amsterdam Treaty.

The essence of this tool is that it is not necessary to create a package of common mechanisms for use in a specific situation, but rather to share experience and disseminate the best applied technologies. The open coordination method involves interactive learning from the experience of other EU Member States. The effectiveness of this tool is evaluated by experts at the national level. However, despite the fact that this method is gaining popularity, at this stage it is used relatively rarely.

Eco-labels are mainly designed for the psychological impact on the consumer through the dissemination of information about the environmental impact of various products and services. Eco-labels help consumers obtain information in a standardized way, allowing them to make more informed decisions about purchasing goods or services. Their use is not regulated at the EU level, so this tool is mainly used at the EU level, most common in Germany and the Scandinavian countries. Also, in most EU member states, mandatory labeling has been introduced, confirming the compliance of products with environmental and safety standards.

The Environmental Management System includes EMAS Environmental Management and Audit Schemes designed to create incentives for more environmentally responsible and safer production. These schemes require companies to audit the impact of their activities on ecosystems, create internal systems monitoring, managing and reducing these effects. If all these elements are introduced into production, then companies receive special confirmation (in the form of a logo), which they can use in their reporting. This logo gives them an advantage, a competitive advantage when concluding cooperation and supply agreements. Participation in these schemes is voluntary for manufacturers.

The market-based instruments of the EU Environmental Policy are the most commonly used. They influence the assessment of costs from alternative decisions taken by economic agents. They are used to internalize the negative effects of pollution and resource depletion.

There are five main groups of market instruments:

1. trade permits for pollution and the use or abstraction of resources to reduce pollution levels, such as CO 2 emissions, or to optimize the allocation of resources between different sectors;

2. environmental taxes - aimed at price impact, depending on the negative impact on resources caused by their use, also from harmful substances. Also used to create incentives to change the behavior of producers and consumers in a more environmentally friendly direction.

3. environmental fees and charges are payments for the use of natural resources, aimed at compensating the costs of measures to improve the state of the environment.

4. environmental subsidies, created to stimulate the development and dissemination of new environmentally friendly technologies, are also aimed at creating incentives for changing the behavior of producers and consumers towards a "green economy"

5. compensation schemes aimed at compensating for damages in the event of environmental degradation, at risk management, mainly to hedge the risk of unexpected losses, for example, in the event of a drought or flood, as well as at compensating for preventive activities and the costs of restoring the state of natural resources, and ecosystems.

Despite the fact that market-based instruments are represented by a wide range of mechanisms and are often used, they are still underdeveloped at the EU level. This is largely due to the fact that member countries refuse to develop uniform norms at the EU level, for example, the issues of a single rate of one or another environmental tax.

However, they are used in 9 main areas of the EU Environmental Policy. At the moment, there are 18 mandatory and 24 recommended market instruments of the EU Environmental Policy.

Their most widespread use is in the Scandinavian countries, the Netherlands, Germany and the UK. Emission trading mechanisms and taxes on harmful substances play the most important role there.

In addition, when considering environmental subsidies, they are often financed by EU Structural Funds and Cohesion Funds. They finance environmental projects, which contribute to regional economic development by creating infrastructures for the operation of environmental services, such as water supply, wastewater treatment.

Voluntary agreements, as defined by the European Commission, are agreements between the state and/or producers to promote the use of appropriate technologies to reduce negative impacts on natural resources, with the sharing of the benefits thus obtained. Public-private partnership schemes are determined by state bodies, they also set environmental goals that must be achieved in a particular case. Producers have the right to decide whether they want to participate in them, the criteria for participation are agreed in advance in each case. Later, the Commission ruled that businesses could enter into partnerships with other individuals without significant regulatory interference.

One successful example of the use of a voluntary agreement is the River Regime Agreement in the Lower Ebro, Spain. It is based on public and private support for the implementation of artificial tides, such as invasive removal of macrophytes, to partially restore the lower reaches of the river, polluted by hydroelectric power plants, and to improve the ecological potential of the river.

If we analyze in detail the application of environmental taxes, it should be noted that all environmental taxes used in the EU can be combined into 4 groups; taxes on energy use, transport, resources and emissions. In most countries, it is the first two categories that generate the largest amount of tax revenue.

Energy taxes include taxes on the production of energy and energy carriers, including transport fuels. The most important energy products for transport are diesel and gasoline fuels, for consumer and industrial needs - fuel oil, natural gas, coal and electricity. Taxes on the use of renewable energy sources are also being considered. The carbon tax is also included in this category. Energy taxes represent 76.7% of all environmental tax revenue in 2015, with particularly high figures for the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Luxembourg and Romania. Slightly more than 50% of tax revenue comes from Malta, Norway, the Netherlands and Denmark.

Transportation taxes are mainly related to the ownership and use of vehicles. Taxes on transport equipment and related services (such as taxes on charter flights or on road use) are also considered. Transport taxes are the second most important category, accounting for almost 20% of all EU environmental tax revenue. However, there are countries in which their share is much higher: in Austria, Ireland and Denmark between 35-40%, in Norway and Malta - over 40%. They play the least important role in Estonia and Lithuania - 2.2% and 2.5% respectively.

Pollution taxes include taxes on emissions to air, water, management solid waste and noise.

Taxes on the use of natural resources include taxes on the use and extraction of water resources, forests, and the deterioration of flora and fauna.

Resource and pollution taxes represent a fairly small share of EU environmental tax revenues at 3.5%. This is largely due to the fact that these taxes are introduced only if necessary, for a given situation. Thus, in countries such as Croatia, the Netherlands, Germany, Cyprus and Romania, they are used most frequently and account for 10 to 20% of all environmental tax revenues.

In general, all instruments of the EU Environmental Policy are aimed at internalizing the negative impact on the environment or are used as preventive measures. Some mechanisms, such as eco-labelling and the environmental management system, can only indirectly affect the achievement of EU environmental objectives. While the use of market-based instruments or voluntary agreements can have a real impact on the state of the environment, improving the quality of natural resources, reducing the negative impact on ecosystems and human health.

1.3 Theory of environmental taxes

The concept of environmental taxes can be viewed from the point of view of 4 theoretical approaches: the Pigou tax, the polluter pays concept, the principle of least cost abatement, and the double dividend principle.

The concept of using tax instruments is based on the theory of the existence of negative environmental externalities as a result of economic activity that are not taken into account when forming the price of manufactured goods.

The Pigouvian approach characterizes the situation when the external effect is considered as the result of production at a non-optimal level, which leads to a shift in demand and price from the equilibrium level, and then, as a consequence, there is a negative impact on the quality of the environment. The introduction of environmental taxes in this case becomes essential tool for its internalization and a mechanism to address market failures. If we consider the ideal picture of the world - a market with perfect information, then the very existence of environmental taxes is seen as a way to achieve social and environmental goals, if they are designed accordingly. In reality, however, typical Pigouvian taxes should reflect the marginal cost of environmental degradation. The exact determination of the tax rate depends on information about the costs and profits of production. The uncertainty that exists in estimating the costs of internalizing externalities is largely related to the price elasticity of natural resources and the pace of technological progress in a given EU Member State.

The imperfection of information has a strong influence in the calculation of taxes, for example, when assessing the damage from carbon dioxide emissions and calculating the required carbon tax.

This approach is aimed at maximizing welfare, and not at achieving certain environmental goals, because. improvement in the state of the environment is only a consequence of the internalization of negative impacts. And a change in behavior that also leads to an improvement in the quality of natural resources is the result of the need to reallocate external costs. Thus, the effect of the Pigouvian tax is twofold. On the one hand, positive environmental impacts arise from incentives to reduce emissions as long as the marginal cost of abatement is lower than the tax rate. On the other hand, production costs increase due to lower abatement costs and tax payments for the remaining volume. Therefore, as a direct impact, the achievement of environmental goals by reducing emissions can be considered, and as an indirect one, these are structural changes in production in favor of more environmentally friendly development.

The “polluter pays” principle emerged in the early 1970s. It is based on the idea of ​​distributing the costs of internalization negative effect on the principle of justice, i.e. the economic agent that produced the emissions pays. So, the costs are borne by the manufacturer, which causes damage to the environment. In general, it can be said that this principle is aimed at preventing negative impacts on natural resources, rather than compensating for the costs of their restoration.

Thus, the internalization of costs is not the goal of applying taxes, but rather a means of reducing the level of negative impacts on ecosystems.

The third approach is associated with the lowest cost of pollution reduction. In this case, taxes are considered as regulatory measures, and economic efficiency is associated with a subsequent change in behavior. After analyzing the cost function, for some producers, pollution control measures will be preferable to paying taxes. As a result, each company chooses its own strategy, and the required emission reduction is achieved at a lower total cost.

In addition, a polluter tax provides a permanent and continuous economic incentive to develop more effective means of solving environmental problems. Thus, taxes will stimulate the ecological modernization of production.

Also, environmental taxes are considered within the framework of the concept of a double dividend. From this point of view, tax revenues should have a positive impact in an economic and environmental sense. So, on the one hand, environmental dividends are obtained, and on the other hand, economic ones.

Tax revenues are used to improve the state of the environment. And a change in behavior will lead not only to environmental benefits, but also to a reduction in the tax disproportion. Thus, it can be said that this principle rather concentrates on the use of tax revenues to achieve environmental, and as a result, economic goals.

So, if we consider all approaches to environmental taxes, we can conclude that their application is aimed at internalizing the negative impact, as well as creating incentives to reduce this effect and to change the behavior of consumers and producers, as a preventive measure.

Chapter 2. Analysis of the effectiveness of environmental taxes

At this stage, there is no specific indicator or index by which to assess the effectiveness of environmental taxes. However, tax revenues from them play an important role in protecting the environment. So, if we analyze a number of indicators on which these tax revenues depend, we can evaluate the effectiveness of the instrument itself.

2.1 Description of data

To determine the effectiveness of environmental taxes, signs were taken from three main categories: the state of the environment, production and consumption, and the quality of government regulation.

As a dependent value that will determine the effectiveness of taxes, revenues from environmental taxes in $ million will be considered.

The following indicators will be used as independent variables:

GDP per capita at PPP;

Government spending on environmental protection, million $;

Municipal waste, kg per capita;

The volume of renewable sources of clean water, m 3 per capita;

The volume of carbon dioxide emissions, tons;

The volume of sulfur oxide emissions, tons;

The performance indicator of the resources used;

Savings in primary energy consumption, thousand tons of oil equivalent;

Share of renewable energy sources in final energy consumption, thousand tons of oil equivalent;

Quality index of regulators, on a scale from -2.5 to 2.5;

Government performance index, on a scale of -2.5 to 2.5.

There is a large number of studies on the impact of the level of economic development on the environmental consciousness of society. Thus, economic growth stimulates an increase in demand for goods and services and, as a result, leads to an increase in the energy intensity of economic activity. As a consequence, economic taxes are used to maintain a balance between economic growth and maintaining a “good” ecosystem. Variables such as GDP per capita, savings in primary energy consumption, and the productivity of natural resources used are used to represent this impact of environmental taxes.

The state of the environment is considered in the model in terms of both positive and negative impacts of economic activity. First of all, indicators of the level of pollution and emissions associated with production and consumption are used. Variables that characterize the amount of carbon dioxide emissions, the amount of sulfur oxide emissions and the municipal waste generated are included in this category. These emissions have the most significant impact on ecosystems and air pollution.

Positive trends are taken into account through the analysis of indicators for the use of renewable energy sources and the analysis of renewable water resources.

Also, since the model considers environmental taxes within the framework of the EU Environmental Policy, it is necessary to assess the role of the state. Thus, the institutional context plays a crucial role in the implementation of environmental policy. Particular attention is paid to the quality of regulators and the effectiveness of governments, since the effective use of environmental taxes is impossible without state intervention and depends on the work of institutions. Moreover, the institutional development of countries is closely related to the level of economic development. Thus, there is a positive impact on the environment. Consequently, the model includes a variable describing the financing of environmental protection, and indices of political development of countries.

The study period is 2014, since the necessary statistical data are available for this period of time.

Descriptive statistics

As can be seen, the largest dispersion is characterized by public spending on environmental protection, this can be explained by the fact that costs depend on the country's GDP and the level of its development. The largest funding is made in the most stable and developed countries, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Finland, and the smallest amount of funds is directed to environmental protection in the former transition economies: Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Romania, Poland, Slovakia. The volume of carbon dioxide emissions into the air is also characterized by a high dispersion value. This indicator is also directly related to the level of development of the country: in more economically developed countries, environmentally friendly technologies are used in production, and, consequently, there is less pollution. The high dispersion of primary energy consumption can be explained similarly. The remaining indicators are characterized by less variability due to the fact that the development of a number of industries in the EU member states is comparable. This applies to waste generation, on average 468 kg per person, resource productivity, with an average of 1.7, to the use of renewable energy and water resources.

At the same time, if we consider the level of institutional development of the EU countries, it can be noted that the average indicator of the quality of regulators in the EU is 1.16, and the efficiency of the government is 1.1. The variability of both features is quite small. Thus, the political development of the EU countries is at approximately the same level, this can be explained by the wide spread of supranational institutions, which, among other things, are responsible for the Environmental Policy, for the Common Agricultural Policy of the EU.

2.2 Correlation and factor analysis

Correlation analysis allows you to detect the relationship between the features used.

Correlation coefficients show that the model uses a number of variables that have a similar effect. Thus, at a significance level of 0.01, GDP per capita PPP and waste generation, government efficiency, and resource productivity are strongly interconnected. The amount of money allocated to finance environmental protection measures also depends to a large extent on the level of primary energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions. The correlation is significant at the 1% level between the amount of waste generated and the efficiency of the government, as well as the efficiency of the use of natural resources. The quality of the work of regulators directly depends on the efficiency of the government. The share of energy from renewable sources in final energy consumption is highly correlated with the volume of renewable water resources. The volume of sulfur oxide and carbon dioxide emissions at the 1% significance level depend on the level of primary energy consumption, and there is also a direct relationship between these two pollutants. In turn, a significant correlation exists between government performance and resource use productivity.

According to the results of the correlation analysis, we can conclude that a sufficiently large number of factors are interconnected with each other and it is necessary to reduce the dimension of this model.

Factor analysis

Thus, it is necessary to perform factor analysis of independent variables. Let's reduce the dimension of the model using the principal component method. This method will allow you to convert the original features into a set of uncorrelated factors. However, in this model, not all variables will be used as factors, since otherwise their meaningful interpretation of the factors will be incorrect.

First, let's test the hypothesis that there is no correlation between the parameters that characterize carbon dioxide and sulfur oxide emissions, as well as describe renewable energy and water resources. We use the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin sampling adequacy criterion. If the value of KMO statistics is less than 0.5, then the use of factor analysis is inappropriate. In this case, the null hypothesis is rejected because the CMR is 0.578. Thus, two factors have been extracted, the first one describes emissions into the environment, and the second characterizes renewable natural resources.

However, with further analysis, it became necessary to conduct a factor analysis again in order to get rid of a significant correlation between the features characterizing the economic (BBB PPP per capita and the volume of environmental protection costs) and political (indices of the quality of regulators and the effectiveness of governments) development of countries. EU members. In this case, the criterion for the adequacy of the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin sample turned out to be 0.566, therefore, the null hypothesis is rejected and factor analysis can be carried out using the principal component method. Only one factor was extracted, which describes the economic and political development of the country.

2.3 Regression analysis and evaluation of the effectiveness of environmental taxes

The null hypothesis of our model is that the coefficient is statistically insignificant, the alternative hypothesis is that the coefficient is statistically significant.

Table 1. Linear regression model specification

Regression equation:

This model explains 81.3% of the variation in revenues from environmental taxes and is significant in general at a significance level of 0.000, the F-statistic observed is greater than the critical value. If we consider the significance of the regression coefficients, then they are all significant at the level of 5%. Therefore, the null hypothesis is rejected.

Let's check the model for multicolleniality. To do this, we calculate the coefficients of determination of the regression of factors on the remaining factors. If the VIF value is less than or equal to 10, then there is no multicolleniality.

It is also necessary to check the model for the presence of systematic relationships between the residuals of adjacent cases. To do this, we will carry out the Dorbin-Watson test for first-order autocorrelation. The null hypothesis in this case is about the absence of autocorrelation of residuals, and the alternative one is about the presence of negative or positive autocorrelation of residuals. The Dorbin-Watson criterion takes on a value. If the criterion value is close to 2, then the null hypothesis is not rejected. In this model, the value of the coefficient is 2.056, therefore, there is no autocorrelation in the residuals.

This conclusion can also be confirmed by analyzing the histogram of the residuals. The residuals show how much the observed values ​​deviate from the theoretically expected ones. The graph shows that the distribution of the residuals obeys the normal distribution, therefore, the residuals do not appear systematically, which means that there is no autocorrelation of the residuals.

Thus, we can say that the resulting model is correct and can be used to analyze the effectiveness of environmental taxes in the EU.

To assess the effectiveness of the application of environmental taxes, it is necessary to interpret the obtained coefficients of the regression equation.

So, with an increase in the volume of waste by 1 kg per capita, the level of tax revenues increases by $ 1.436 million, but if primary energy consumption is reduced, then tax revenues decrease by $ 4.9 million. An increase in the use of renewable resources leads to an increase in revenues from environmental taxes by $74.5 million, and the increase in air pollution by $139.377 million. Between the economic and political development countries and tax revenues from the use of natural resources are also directly dependent, they grow by $213.1 million.

Thus, we can say that the results of the study coincided with the original hypothesis about the influence of variables on environmental tax revenues.

Based on the results of the analysis, it can be concluded that taxes are an effective instrument of the EU Environmental Policy. However, their effectiveness largely depends on the level of development of a member country of the European Union. Thus, the higher the level of economic development of the country, the more incentives there are for manufacturers to introduce environmentally friendly technologies. As a consequence, the more the use of natural resources in environmentally unsustainable production is reduced, for example, the reduction of primary energy consumption, the less tax revenues become. However, if we consider this dependence from the point of view of achieving environmental goals, then taxes are effective, creating incentives to change the behavior of economic agents and contribute to the growth of the "green economy".

At the same time, the positive dependence of the negative impact on natural resources, the low productivity of the resources used make it possible to consider environmental taxes as an effective tool for internalizing the negative effect.

It is also important to note the positive relationship between the activities of institutions and tax revenues. It can be said that effective regulators and financing of environmental protection activities play an important role not only for the internalization of externalities, but also for effective structural changes in production.

Chapter 3 EU Environmental Tax Reform

The EU environmental tax reform is a reform of the national tax system to shift the tax burden from capital goods, such as labor, to environmentally hazardous economic activities. This reform is not centralized and has no time limits; it has been carried out since the 1990s by individual states of the European Union.

The reform of EU environmental taxes includes a set of measures to increase taxes on energy and natural resources and mechanisms for the effective redistribution of these tax revenues. The redistribution of tax revenues may be due to the relief of the tax burden in other sectors of the economy or in the growth of targeted government spending, which to some extent can offset the effect of an increase in environmental taxes. Thus, the reform of environmental taxes may have an uneven effect on the economic activity of agents, the most common impact is an increase in prices for taxed goods, as well as an impact on the state of the environment.

In general, the reform is carried out in order to create a mechanism for maximizing economic benefits for agents, to keep the environment in good condition. Thus, economic well-being can be increased in two ways - improving the environmental situation and creating new jobs.

The analysis proves that the reform of environmental taxation can be considered as an effective measure to achieve the goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20% in accordance with the Europe 2020 strategy. in turn will lead to economic growth and employment growth, and resource consumption will decrease.

3.1 Potential distributional effects of environmental tax reform

Much of the potential positive impact of the reforms is due to the spread of the use of best practices. However, taxes often have a regressive distributive effect on households.

For example, if the tax on motor fuel changes, then the largest tax burden is placed on middle-income households. This can be explained by the fact that the majority of low-income households do not have private cars and the increase in motor fuel tax does not have a significant impact on them. Thus, the high tax rate on motor fuel effective remedy from an environmental point of view, it encourages the use of cleaner fuels, and as the share of car owners with high incomes exceeds the share of middle-income households, the level of pollutants and harmful emissions decreases. However, from another point of view, economic stratification is intensifying. In such a case, the use of an increased motor fuel tax on expensive cars and the simultaneous use of an increased tax on public transport may offset the tax burden for both groups.

Also, it should be noted that the distributional effect of the same taxes varies greatly depending on the country, region.

If we look at the analysis of energy and water taxes in five countries that have already reformed environmental taxes, the Czech Republic, Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom, we can identify the dependence of the distribution effect on the country. Thus, on average, tax revenues for these categories are comparable to the average disposable income of various categories of households.

In the Czech Republic, the differences between population groups are insignificant, and the largest difference is between the incomes of the poor and the poorest.

In Germany, the regressive nature is more clearly identified, but in general the tax burden is distributed relatively evenly. This is due to the fact that in Germany the largest tax revenues come from the transport sector, i.e. tax on gasoline and diesel, while taxes on water and electricity are relatively low.

In Spain, on the contrary, the distribution of tax revenues from the use of motor fuels is progressive. Households with higher incomes pay more. At the same time, if we consider taxes on water, we observe a mirror situation, they are regressive.

In Sweden, environmental taxes have little to no regressive impact. The largest tax burden falls on the self-employed population, but vulnerable groups of the population are not regressively affected by environmental taxes on water and energy.

In the UK, environmental taxes have a regressive effect on households, and this effect decreases as income levels rise. Water taxes have the greatest impact on low-tax populations, in line with general trends. This impact can be seen as a result of using a water pricing model that does not take into account the real volume of water resources. While taxes on energy, mainly on motor fuel, are becoming the most socially unfair for the middle class.

If we consider the positive impact of the distributional effect on the ecological state, then at the moment there is no empirical data to analyze this dependence. However, it can be assumed that the positive environmental effects of the reform are progressive, that is, households with low level income groups tend to suffer the most from environmental pollution, so they will reap the greatest environmental benefits from reduced levels of pollution and the negative impacts of higher income economic agents and producers.

There are also studies that claim that the use of tax measures to improve the quality of the environment, aimed at reducing emissions from household appliances, the use of motor fuel, can lead to a gradual equal distribution of benefits and, consequently, to a decrease in the regressiveness of the impact of taxes on certain social categories.

If we consider the positive distributive effect of environmental taxes not only on the ecological state, but also on economic well-being, then there are several examples of a real positive impact.

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