Ecologically clean cities of Russia - what are they?Who is involved in the ranking, what criteria are taken into account? To answer these questions, it is necessary to consider several lists compiled by some organizations in different years.

Urbanika and the Union of Architects: “We know ecologically clean cities of Russia"
What did these two organizations do?In 2011, they identified the most environmentally friendly cities in Russia. Only large settlements were counted, those where at least 170.5 thousand people live. What was taken into account when making the ranking?
- The quality of the urban environment.This includes such indicators as housing, condition of roads, illumination of sleeping areas and industrial areas, transport accessibility, crime rate. Do these indicators relate to the concept of "ecology"? Representatives of these institutions are confident that they are.
- How natural conditions are favorable for living.
- The level and amount of pollution.
- The level of spending on utilities.

Не говоря уже о том, что далеко не все показатели related to ecology, methods of collecting information also proved to be questionable. It was provided by realtors, climate research institutes, consulting companies. According to the study, the cleanest city for 2011 was named. It turned out to be ... Surgut. The second place in the list is occupied by Tyumen. Surprisingly, in the opinion of Urbaniki, the ecologically clean cities of Russia are Cherepovets, Nizhnevartovsk, and Chelyabinsk. All of them occupy different positions in the ranking, however, they fall into the first hundred of the dubious list, which lists the ecological clean cities of Russia according to the version of the Union of Architects and Urbanics. In subsequent years, the institute continued to compile ratings, but they are based on other indicators.
The Ministry of Nature is also engaged in urban ecology research. Their ratings are based on completely different indicators. Here take into account:
- air quality;
- water quality;
- waste management;
- environmental impact management.

According to the Ministry in 2011 were namedvery different cities. The first, the most worthy, place proudly occupied Volgograd, followed by St. Petersburg, Saransk, Vologda ... In 2012, Kursk was named as the most environmentally friendly city in Russia. The last places among 70 cities divided Krasnodar and Irkutsk. In 2013, the picture has changed markedly. Deputy Minister of Natural Resources reported that Kursk occupies the same position. Other environmentally friendly cities in Russia in 2013: Moscow, Kaluga, Saransk, Izhevsk. In addition to summarizing the overall results, the winners of individual nominations were announced. The purest water, says the Ministry of Environment, in Anadyr. It is best to dispose of waste in Yaroslavl. Correctly interacts with the environment of Saransk. The cleanest, clear air today in Makhachkala, Volgograd and Petersburg. Krasnodar and Irkutsk were in last place in all ratings, but not because of a bad environment, but because the officials did not submit the necessary information to the Ministry on time. Provided with great delay, they clearly proved that Krasnodar could easily get into the top five cities in which it is pleasant to live.