Ecological investment is gradually becoming one of the key trends of our time. The effectiveness of these investments is expressed in economic returns, but also in obtaining social and environmental benefits, which are quite difficult to assess in the short term, which makes it difficult for investors to make decisions. The article attempts to identify the most promising sectors of the economy at the regional level on the example of the Republic of Mordovia, the investment support of which will ensure the sustainable growth of the gross regional product and at the same time solve a whole list of social and environmental problems. In the course of the study, the following types of economic activity were identified as such "green niches": the sphere of processing and recycling of production and consumption waste, the agro-food sector (organic farming). In the future, green building and ecotourism also have a similar potential (if there is sufficient funding). The author of the article identified factors hindering the development of these branches of the regional economy. Separately, the features of the application of the best available technologies were studied, as a result of which it was concluded that not all of them are environmentally friendly technologies. This is due to the following factors: insufficient own funds of enterprises for environmental investments, lack of motivation for more rational use of scarce resources and/or material or legal liability for environmental damage; high costs for the introduction of new "green" technologies, despite the fact that their effectiveness may not be proven.