Ecological-and-Social Responsibility of Coal Mining Companies

Abstract

Developing a modern view of social and environmental responsibility as a part of environmental policy and taking into account the specifics of coal industry, the article describes the obstacles on the way to its implementation in practice, the main reason of which is the weakness of ecologically oriented thinking. The study shows that Russian enterprises of the coal industry, despite their importance for the economy, are still not fully aware of the need to take into account the factors of their own impact on the environment. The environmental peculiarities of the coal industry enterprises of are determined. The styles of thinking of the management of coal companies during Soviet times and at the end of the twentieth century are traced, when Western standards of mineral resource extracting have not completely adopted yet. Ecological-and-social responsibility is understood by the authors as the highest level of environmental obligation to solve the primary ecological problems. In conclusion, the directions of implementing environmental initiatives are noted.