The economy is oriented to the satisfaction of the material and spiritual needs of a society. In the process of evolution, social needs have increased, citing the need for further development of technology. As a result, economic development can not be achieved without scientific and technological progress, know-how, innovation, ensuring and maintaining a steady growth rate of production in the 20th century. This implies an increasing dependence on the natural resources of technologies, with an impact on the environment. Of course, the available natural and human resources, the level of technical knowledge, the system of institutions determine the conditions for the functioning of the economy. Society has always depended on natural resources, and ultimately this addiction is no longer taken into account in the economy. People seek to consume, not to save resources, the environment. Thus, the main contradiction between the economic development and of the environment is that, on the one hand, the economy must develop, and on the other hand this development generates consequences that are harmful to the environment and the population. The purpose of the research is to investigate the impact of the global economy on the environment and mankind.