Currently, the economy should develop along an innovative way of development with an increase in the efficiency of the use of natural resources and a decrease in negative impacts on the environment to ensure stable economic growth and improve the quality of life of the population. The purpose of the study is to assess the environmental and energy effects that affect the environment and energy intensity in the country. The dynamics of greenhouse gas emissions in Russia are contemporaneously influenced by many different factors, such as the industry structure of the economy, the structure of the fuel and energy balance, the level of technological equipment, and the situation in world markets. Our analysis showed that the dynamics of CO2 emissions in Russia are determined primarily by the growth rates of the population's well-being and by the growth of industrial production. At the same time, in the period 2000-2012, the effect of welfare growth was partially offset by a decrease in the energy intensity of the economy, but then the potential for reducing energy intensity due to changes in the structure of the economy was exhausted. The contribution of the technological factor is also insufficient. So for the period 2000-2017, the improvement of technologies in the field of heat and electric energy production from fossil energy sources made it possible to reduce CO2 emissions by only 33 million tons. Another significant constraint to the transition to a low-carbon trajectory of development is the low rate of implementation of energy-saving technologies in the production of energy-intensive industrial products, maintenance of residential and public buildings.