Category: ESG

ESG is becoming a key feature of the corporate reporting landscape. Companies are being forced to take more account of these factors in their reporting to stakeholders and to the public. The rise of ESG is worldwide and Russian companies will be increasingly required to adopt ESG principles.

ESG has become a major theme in Russia, especially since mid-2020. Various aspects of ESG featured in almost all of the panel discussions at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum (SPIEF). President Putin devoted 25% of his keynote speech to climate change. Government officials are busy planning a slew of ESG regulations, due to be published this autumn.

Russia has traditionally downplayed the implications and causes of climate change. However, worldwide concern about climate change and global warming is accelerating. Russia does not want to be seen as uncooperative and wants to have a central role in policy formulation, which it sees as justified given the huge and diversified land mass and because Russia has the largest Arctic footprint.