Sber and VEB.RF have launched an ESG index of cities and regions of Russia, which will help regions exchange experiences and solve strategic development problems through the prism of environmental, social and governance responsibility. This was reported by the Sber press service.
The company announced that the index includes indicators on 16 factors of sustainable development and will be updated annually.
Currently, the ESG index covers 85 regions and 218 cities in the country.
The study presents the top 20 cities and regions with high sustainable development indicators across all three ESG components and leaders in specific areas.
Thus, at the end of 2023, the top 20 among regions included Belgorod, Voronezh and Kaliningrad regions, Kamchatka, Krasnodar Regions, Leningrad Region, Moscow and other organizations.
Cities included in the list include Anadyr, Veliky Novgorod, Irkutsk, Kazan, Krasnodar and others.
Sberbank ESG Senior Vice President Tatyana Zavyalova noted that cities and regions are centers of attraction for the efforts of the state, business and public.
“A significant part of the dialogue on joint action, investments and projects for sustainable development takes place here. “Approximately 75% of the world’s regions and major cities are already engaging with businesses to implement ESG projects or are planning such partnerships in the coming years,” he said.
The company’s top executive added that the ESG index will allow rapid and objective assessment of regions’ progress towards sustainable development.
Zavyalova emphasized that Sber has its own extensive expertise and analytics.
“The bank is involved in the ESG transformation of more than 60 constituent entities of the Russian Federation; We have developed its own ESG profile with individual solutions for each region, and roadmaps for ESG and sustainable development have been signed with 35 regions. “We implemented 70 projects together with regional authorities in 2023 alone,” he said.
VEB.RF General Director Andrey Samokhin noted that solving the problems of increasing the well-being of Russian families, improving the social sphere and reducing environmental problems in cities is based on working with big data.
He expressed confidence that the joint project with Sber will allow federal and regional authorities, as well as businesses and proactive citizens, to monitor systemic changes in the country in the field of ESG.