Financial model of the green transition of the Southern federal district of the Russian Federation based on eco-­investments

The study addresses the problem of adapting the financial instruments for implementing the environmental agenda to the regional context of the Russian economy. The study is devoted to identifying the financial features and prospects for accelerating the green transition of the Southern Federal District (SFD) of the Russian Federation through the optimization of eco-­investments. The study is based on statistical materials of Rosstat on the dynamics of financial injections into the green transition and its manifestations in the regions of the SFD in 2021–2022, which are processed using the regression modeling method. Financial monitoring of the green transition of the SFD was carried out, which revealed the following features of this process: the inconsistency of the eco-­investment trend, increasing in nominal terms, but decreasing in real terms; an institutional trap, expressed in the lack of a contribution of eco-­investments to the green transformation of the environment in the SFD; patterns of increasing public and industrial involvement in the green transition in the SFD in relation to the increase in eco-­investments. The prospect of accelerating the green transition of the SFD through the optimization of eco-­investments is established — for this purpose, the optimal volume of eco-­investments is recommended for the implementation of a complete green transition in the SFD in the period from 2036 to 2050. In the system, the listed results formed a financial model of the green transition of the SFD based on eco-­investments, which highlighted the meso-­level financial horizon of the green transition in the SFD and opened the “black box” of the application of financial instruments to the implementation of the green transition in the SFD due to the explanation of the transformation processes of eco-­investments, specification and clarification of the return on them in the SFD. The identified meso-­level features and patterns will increase the accuracy of financial planning and the efficiency of financial management of environmental activities in the SFD. A scientifically based benchmark for optimizing eco-­investments in the SFD will make it possible to create a road map for the green transition of the SFD in support of achieving environmental goals in advancing Russia along a low-­carbon path of economic development.