Currently, the world community is actively promoting the issue of building a “green” economy, which should gradually replace for many decades the existing “brown” economy, causing serious damage to the human environment and inducing major threats to the normal existence of modern and especially future generations. In this regard, this paper examines the motivations (imperatives) that have necessitated a gradual transition to development according to the principles of a "green" economy, and discussed the directions of its development.

To understand the essence of the "green" economy, the work firstly formulated and justified the imperatives (incentives) that necessitate its development, including: due to climate change and the depletion of non-renewable resources, the need for a gradual transition (as far as possible) from electricity generation hydrocarbon fuels for generation from alternative renewable energy sources; reversing land degradation and present and future global food security; in connection with the depletion of reserves of non-renewable energy resources to carry out activities aimed at their more economic use; to carry out measures to reduce the energy intensity of GDP, energy saving and energy efficiency; in connection with the accumulation of industrial waste, landfills, waste dumps, etc., introduce systems for utilization and recycling of waste, their involvement in re-circulation; etc.

In the enlarged aspect, the direction of the development of the green economy covers the following positions: general ecosystem management (waste management, combating water and air pollution, restoring and rational use of land, restoring and planting forests); the introduction of renewable energy sources; reducing the energy intensity of GDP and improving energy efficiency (construction of buildings and utilities, industry, transport, agriculture); development of electric transport; organic farming in agriculture; development of ecological tourism.

In the formation of a green economy, the crucial role is played by the introduction of appropriate innovative technologies, as well as the implementation of improving innovations in the context of all directions of its development. In this aspect, a “green” economy can be considered an integral part of an innovative economy, since these economies require similar, and often generalized, coordination mechanisms and an innovative infrastructure.

Taking into account this fact, the paper discusses the ways of innovative development in the context of some of the above directions of development of a “green” economy and the issues of financing and stimulating the development of a green economy.

The task of greening the economy requires the implementation of measures aimed at combining traditional tools of command-administrative regulation and control with measures to introduce innovative tools, including collective public actions to change production and consumption patterns, as well as market tools for reorienting financing to “green” investments, developing clean technologies and more efficient use of resources.

In a “green” economy, among projects there are many such projects that must be implemented over a long period, are very costly and the payback period of which is very large (for example, land restoration). In addition, it is difficult to force a business to implement certain measures for a green economy (for example, to install sewage treatment plants) without providing certain incentives. Therefore, inevitable is the strengthening of state dirigisme in the field of fiscal mechanism (for example, the introduction of "Tobin tax" on environmental pollution), government procurement, and most importantly - in the field of state financing of "green" events. In addition, it is necessary to develop mechanisms for stimulating private business to conduct high-value “green” investments. However, most of the “green” investments (for example, measures to reduce the energy intensity of production) are beneficial for businesses and do not require special government incentives to support their implementation.