Published on: 2026-09-10
Source: Moscow Government – Правительства Москвы –
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One of the key criteria by which people choose where to live, work, and relax today is good ecology. For the capital, clean air, green parks, and safe bodies of water have become as important a resource for development as transport or digital infrastructure. Moscow is betting on science and technology to ensure the comfort of the metropolis’s residents. This was explained by Yulia Urozhayeva, head of the Department of Natural Resource Management and Environmental Protection, at the 5th International Conference ‘Smart and Sustainable Cities’.
“Moscow is the largest northern metropolis in the world, located on the front line of environmental challenges. Therefore, all our decisions are based on science, objective data, and a modeling system—we strive to detect problems at the earliest stages by working with weak signals. And, of course, at the center of our attention is the social demand of citizens for a favorable environmental situation and comfort. Thanks to cooperation with scientists from more than 25 universities, including Lomonosov Moscow State University, Bauman Moscow State Technical University, National Research University Higher School of Economics, and Patrice Lumumba Russian University of Peoples’ Friendship, we do everything possible to minimize risks: reducing the burden that humans place on the environment, as well as seeking ways to adapt to climate change. Moscow’s environmental policy is based on four principles: scientific substantiation, citizen involvement, prevention and early detection of problems, and objective monitoring.””We see the result in numbers: over the past 10 years, emissions of pollutants into the atmosphere have decreased by 8.5 times,” noted Yulia Urozhayeva.
Moscow is actively implementing new monitoring technologies. Among them is, for example, LIDAR scanning of green areas: the total digitalized area in 2025 amounted to more than 2.8 thousand hectares. The technology allows determining vegetation parameters with an accuracy previously unavailable: the height of a tree is recorded with an error of only one to three centimeters. This makes it possible to build a forecast model for the development of green spaces.
Another breakthrough solution is a new method to combat cyanobacteria in urban water bodies. Special floating biosorption modules have been created for this purpose, which neutralize water blooms through natural mechanisms: higher aquatic plants and sorbents destroy the nutrient environment for algae without requiring mechanical cleaning or chemicals. According to research results, the use of modern tools has allowed reducing the concentration of algae by two and a half to three times.
In Moscow, floating modules have been developed to reduce the spread of blue-green algae
Simultaneously, together with the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the capital began using the environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis method. Thanks to this, it was possible to identify species of animals in the city’s green areas that were considered extinct and had not been recorded for about 100 years.
Another important area of environmental policy was legislative regulation. The law No. 27 “On the protection and use of the green fund in the city of Moscow,” adopted in the capital in November 2024, for the first time in Russia introduced the concept of ecosystem functions of plants: some are necessary for cooling overheated streets, others — for creating noise barriers, and still others — for absorbing harmful impurities from the air.
Another area is the control of waste generated as a result of construction and demolition. Monitoring systems combined with satellite positioning data track the routes of dump trucks, record instances of unauthorized unloading, and compare the actual volume of transported waste with the data stated in the permit documentation.
The V International Conference “Smart and Sustainable Cities” (Smart and Sustainable Cities, SSC 2026) is taking place from September 9 to 12. Scientists from more than 25 countries are participating. SSC has been held since 2018 and today it is developing as a platform where scientific data is discussed alongside the possibilities of their practical application.
On the portal mos.ru appeared large-scale special project, dedicated to the development of key sectors of Moscow. These include transport, industry, healthcare, education, sports, and construction. The special project helps to learn how the capital has changed in recent years, what initiatives aimed at making citizens’ lives even more comfortable are currently being implemented, and what awaits Moscow and its residents in the near future.
On the project page “Ecology” you can learn about how the capital is renewing the green fund and expanding environmental education, as well as preparing to make eco-solutions a part of everyday life.
Get the latest news promptly on the official channels of the city of Moscow in messengers “Max” and “Telegram”.
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