The Role of Investment and Innovation Activities of Coal Mining Enterprises in Increasing the Level of Environmental Safety of Country and Region

Abstract

The key role of investment and innovation activities of coal industry enterprises in improving the environmental safety of regions specializing in coal mining is substantiated in the article. The coal industry enterprises are recognized by the world scientific community as the absolute leader in the field of negative impact on the environment and industrial production waste generation. In this regard, one of the most important tasks of increasing the investment and innovation activities of coal companies, the introduction of modern technologies should be not only an increase in labor productivity and production efficiency, but also a reduction of anthropogenic impact on the environment. Despite the obviousness of the presented thesis, the trends characterizing the coal industry as the most inert and low-innovative sphere, which follows the path of extensive development, continue to dominate. The insignificant increase in investments in fixed assets, periodically followed by a recession, the reduction of trapped and neutralized air polluting substances, the lack of demand for innovations in the coal industry, as well as their low impact on ensuring compliance with modern technical standards, procedures and rules, bear evidence of low responsibility of business entities and inefficient measures of state economic policy in the field of improving environmental safety in the commodity-dependent regions.