Ecological and economic assessment of the state of single-industry cities of the Karaganda region in the context of achieving Sustainable Development Goals

Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals is a priority area of the modern development of the countries of the world. The Republic of Kazakhstan is no exception and actively participates in the process of achieving the ecological and economic sustainability of the regions. The problems of sustainable development of single-industry cities are of particular importance. Previously, this issue was practically not considered in the literature, which creates the prerequisites for conducting research related to the quantitative assessment of the sustainability of singleindustry towns, as well as the formation of proposals for the implementation of regional economic policies aimed at harmonizing public interests. This article provides a general analysis of the current ecological and economic situation in the single-industry cities of the Karaganda region, which showed that the problem of sustainability of these singleindustry cities is of great scientific and practical importance for this region. The purpose of the article was to study the environmental problems of the Karaganda region, using the example of single-industry towns: Balkhash, Temirtau, Abai, Saran, Shakhtinsk. Along with identifying the pollution problems of single-industry citis, an integral index of the economic sustainability of single-industry cities was also calculated using the example of the Karaganda region. In addition, this article provides a literature review based on relevant sources on sustainable development, identifies patterns of sustainable development, conducts an environmental assessment of the Karaganda region, including five single-industry cities, analyzes the natural resource potential of the Karaganda region based on an environmental assessment. The value of this article lies in its contribution to environmental and economic science in relation to a rational attitude to the environment and the achievement of sustainable development, as well as regional development taking into account the needs of future generations.