Author(s)

ANZHELIKA KARAEVA, ELENA MAGARIL

Abstract

The environmental impact of the energy sector demonstrates an upward trend in the last decades due to growing demand for energy around the world. Increasing the share of renewable energy in the structure of global energy production and avoiding the use of organic fuels are the main directions of greening the sector in the upcoming decades which corresponds to the sustainable development goals. However, despite the wide range of measures taken at various levels, the volume of fossil fuel consumption by energy facilities remains substantial and energy-related emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere are only increasing, which leads to irreversible environmental consequences. Taking into account the fact that traditional energy facilities continue to prevail in the structure of the global energy sector, it is necessary to introduce green approaches to their management and efficiency assessment. Environmental audit is an important component of efficiency evaluation of an enterprise activity, which enables to assess how correctly and reliably data on environmental impact were collected and analysed and, consequently, to determine the value and objectivity of the results obtained. Currently there is a lack of unified approach adapted to the energy specifics of environmental audit and environmental reporting. The purpose of the study is to provide a list of recommendations on improving the environmental audit procedure for traditional energy facilities. The recommendations for environmental audit presented in international standards have been analysed. The key tasks and requirements for environmental audit at energy enterprises have been identified, considering the specifics of their impact on the environment.

Keywords

traditional energy, environmental audit, sustainable development, power sector, environmental impact assessment, energy enterprise