Environmental investments as the basis of “green” economy: empirical evidence from Ukrainian companies

Abstract

Investments in environmental protection are crucial for achieving the goals of building green economy. The purpose of the study is, firstly, to assess the state and trends of Ukrainian companies investments for environmental purposes; secondly, to identify the determinants of the impact on the volume of environmental protection investments; finally, to determine presence /absence of a link between environmental investments and financial performance of companies. The initial data for the study were obtained from published statistical reports for the period from 2010 till 2019. Methods of analysis for testing hypotheses are descriptive and correlation-regression ones. It was found out that the selected independent variables (belonging to environmentally damaging activities and revenue of the companies) are positively correlated with the volume of costs and investments in environmental protection of Ukrainian companies. However, for the independent variable “financial results” a negative correlation was obtained. The hypothesis of environmental investments positive impact on the financial profitability of companies has not been confirmed. Environmental policy in Ukraine concerning implementation of “green” growth strategy is defined as a reflective one due to a number of economic and political factors.