Abstract
<jats:p>The issue of financial support for the environmental sector is becoming increasingly relevant due to growing anthropogenic pressure on the environment and rising environmental risks. The effectiveness of environmental policy largely depends on the stability and adequacy of financial resources allocated to environmental protection. The purpose of the study is to analyze the financial security of the environmental sector of Ukraine from a regional perspective based on capital investments in environmental protection measures and to identify territorial disparities in environmental financing. The research design combines statistical analysis and economic-mathematical modeling of the regional structure of environmental investments. The empirical basis consists of official statistical data on capital investments in environmental protection across 25 administrative-territorial units of Ukraine during 2021–2024. The main hypothesis assumes the existence of significant territorial asymmetry in financing environmental measures and the formation of groups of regions with different levels of financial security in the environmental sector. The methodological framework includes comparative statistical analysis, data standardization, cluster analysis, and economic-mathematical modeling. Regions were grouped using hierarchical clustering based on Ward’s method with the Euclidean distance metric. The results indicate that environmental investments in 2022 decreased almost sevenfold compared with the previous year, while in 2023–2024 only a partial recovery of financing occurred. Cluster analysis identified three groups of regions according to the level of financial support for the environmental sector. Environmental investments are highly concentrated in a small number of industrially developed regions, whereas most regions demonstrate relatively low levels of financing for environmental protection activities. The findings can be used to develop differentiated public policies aimed at supporting environmental protection measures and reducing interregional disparities in environmental financing. The scientific novelty of the study lies in applying a cluster approach to assessing the financial security of the environmental sector of Ukraine at the regional level. Future research may focus on expanding indicators used to evaluate environmental financial security and assessing the effectiveness of environmental investments.</jats:p>