Russian environmental watchdog brings almost 32.5 bln rubles into budget in 2024

MOSCOW. June 6 (Interfax) - Russian natural resource use watchdog Rosprirodnadzor collected nearly 32.5 billion rubles in revenue for the country's budget last year, almost a third more than expected, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Patrushev said at a meeting of the agency's board on Thursday, which was Ecologist Day in Russia and also World Environment Day.

"The deputy prime minister noted that in 2024 the service's activities generated almost 32.5 billion rubles of income into the consolidated budget, which was 30% more than forecast expectations. Most of these funds are used for environmental programs in regional budgets," Patrushev's press service reported.

Patrushev said the agency's operations actively involve electronic services, including collection of reporting and budget administration. The amount of services provided digitally grew by 16 times in the period from 2020 to 2025 and now covers their whole scope. Digitalization will help expand the system of remote oversight, which in turn will increase Rosprirodnadzor's mobility and the number of measures it can carry out, he said.

The number of preventative visits and warnings made by the agency almost doubled to more than 80,000 in 2024, while the number of scheduled inspections decreased by 30%, Patrushev said.

Rosprirodnadzor also continues to assess the environmental impact of so-called sites of accumulated damage for their inclusion in the corresponding registry. More than 230 such sites in 49 regions were studied and assessed last year.

Patrushev also laid out the agency's objectives for this year, including as part of work on completing construction of treatment facilities on the Volga River and at Lake Baikal, issuing integrated environmental permits, and administration of the reforms of extended producer responsibility.

Rosprirodnadzor has also been given a key role in the experiment with pollutant emission quotas in cities under the Clean Air federal project. The list of facilities and size of quotas are supposed to be determined this year.

Patrushev said in conclusion that funding for Rosprirodnadzor and institutions it oversees has increased by 250% in the past six years. "In addition, in 2025 the government additionally provided 6 billion rubles to increase the salaries of agency employees in the next few years, which will also help attract young, motivated specialists to the sector," the press release said.