Developing a system of expert assessment of the development and environmental and technological modernisation projects in industry

The article presents new approaches to the development of a system for the expert evaluation (peer review) of technological development and industrial modernisation projects aimed at increasing production resource efficiency and environmental performance and reducing carbon intensity. The relevance of the study is determined by the need to set uniform criteria and develop an integrated system for evaluating projects. It is emphasised that the Russian Federation has objectives to expand technological capabilities of the economy and ensure the growth of the domestic industry while improving the resource and reducing the negative environmental impact. These objectives are achieved through the development and implementation of innovative technological solutions, the transition to the best available techniques (BAT) and the formation of a circular economy. Both the state and business allocate significant funds to the industrial environmental and technological modernisation projects. Authors substantiate their position and emphasize that in order to provide support for priority areas of industrial development, it is necessary to develop objective criteria for assessing resource efficiency and environmental performance, as well as to develop a system of expert evaluation of projects. They propose to form a unified system of criteria for pre-financial evaluation of projects based on indicators characterising BAT, including indicators of environmental efficiency (air emissions and water discharges of pollutants), as well as resource intensity and carbon intensity of production. At the same time, the system of expert evaluation of projects should include tools for voluntary (at the stage of selecting technological solutions, developing projects and preparing documentation) and mandatory assessment (at the stage of considering projects by authorised executive authorities, commissions, banks, etc.). Authors demonstrate advantages of the system of expert evaluation of projects for environmental and technological modernisation of industry running a comparative analysis of the cement production projects. They conclude that using uniform criteria will allow taking into account the consistent improvement of the BAT, expanding the spectrum of areas of BAT application and clarifying (tightening) industry indicators, as well as international approaches to the evaluation of green projects. It is recommended using approaches worked out in the Russian Federation for strengthening Eurasian integration in the field of sustainable (including green) development.