The "green recovery" after the pandemic, regulatory initiatives, investor demand for ESG tools and, as a result, competition among financial institutions – all these factors will stimulate the development of ESG financing in Russia. Agribusiness banks of other countries are introducing ESG strategies that can become an example for Russia and the basis for its development – this opinion was expressed by experts participating in the session "IFC + ESG: Rethinking the Mission of Financial Centers" at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).
The key global challenge today is the transition to a low-carbon economy, already stated by many countries in their strategies. According to experts, last year there has been an active formation of a new class of "green" assets, the development of new investment models, and this process will intensify in Russia as well.
"The role of Russian Agricultural Bank as a core bank for agribusiness in frame of ESG agenda is valuable: out of 17 United Nations sustainable development goals, most relate to agribusiness sector: the elimination of hunger, clean water and sanitation, sustainable cities and small settlements, responsible consumption and production, and others. We study strategies of international institutions and consider the implementation of these practices in the Russian market. RusAg follows a paradigm that allows strengthening the socio-economic position of the country by introducing projects and financial instruments that stimulate environmental protection," commented Anna Kuznetsova, Deputy Chairman of the Management Board at RusAg
The domestic agribusiness sector, taking as a basis the experience of international financial institutions, begins to build a system of sustainable development management.
The introduction of sustainable development principles means an inflow of investment into the sector.
Russian Agricultural Bank actively participates as an organizer in most of green and social bonds issues of Russian companies. RusAg placed the debut issues of green bonds of Russian Railways (RUB 100 billion) and Moscow (RUB 70 billion). The Bank is preparing Rosatom green bonds issue, which will become the largest corporate issue of green bonds that meet ICMA standards, VEB.RF and the Bank of Russia standards. RSHB Asset Management formed and listed two exchange-traded funds for sustainable development indices (the stock fund for the MosExchange Index - RSPP Vector of Sustainable Development and the Eurobond fund for the Moscow Exchange and RusAg Index).
According to the expert, important factors in the development of ESG in Russia are the settlement of information disclosure standards, methodological assistance to companies, the development of business customs, tax incentives, the creation of benchmarks in the market of green and social bonds.