Budgetary Financing of the Environmental Protection Sphere in Ukraine

Environmental protection requires significant financial costs, accumulation and proper spending of funds for the implementation of environmental protection measures, environmental programs and resource-saving projects. Today in Ukraine the state budget is one of the main investors in environmental programs. The purpose of the article is to analyze and assess the state of budgetary financing of the sphere of environmental protection in Ukraine and make proposals for its improvement. The sources of financial support for environmental protection measures in Ukraine have been systematized. The dynamics of total expenditures on the environment, the volumes of actual and planned expenditures of the budget for environmental protection, as well as their structure were analyzed. It was revealed that over the past 5 years, total costs, and in particular budget expenditures for environmental protection in Ukraine, have increased by 1.8 times. However, their share in all expenditures on environmental protection decreased by 0.3%. In 2020, out of the total budgetary expenditures on the environment, most of the funds were allocated to the prevention and elimination of environmental pollution (over 70%) and waste disposal (33.8%). A negative phenomenon is the chronic underperformance of the indicators planned in the budget, as a result of which there is a significant underfunding of environmental protection. In general, over the past six years, the percentage of fulfillment of the planned budget expenditures on environmental protection ranged from 75.8% to 80.0%. To increase the efficiency of the formation and use of budgetary funds for environmental protection, it is necessary: 1) to ensure a sufficient amount of budgetary funding for environmental protection through the search for real additional sources of funding; 2) improve the procedure for budget forecasting and planning of allocation of funds for environmental activities; 3) ensure high-quality control over the timeliness of budget funds receipt, direct funds for their intended purpose in the more priority areas of development of the sphere of environmental protection; 4) ensure targeted and effective use of funds received for the implementation of environmental protection measures.