Moscow, 14 October 2020
Gazprombank took part in the 3rd annual Industrial Ecology Conference and became the event’s strategic partner.
Presentations were made by representatives of Gazprombank, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Statutory Company Russian Environmental Operator (REO), VNII Ecology Research Institute, VEB.RF, Rosatom, Metalloinvest Management Company, NLMK Group, and Sibur Holding, among others. The conference was sponsored by the RF Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.
The participants discussed prospects for environmental projects development and financing, and improvements to environmental regulation. Vyacheslav Fetisov, UNEP National Goodwill Ambassador for the Arctic and Antarctic, was a special guest at the Plenary Session.
During the Plenary entitled “Sustainable Development of Industrial Russia,” the Bank’s First Vice President Roman Panov described new financial support instruments for ESG projects in Russia, post-pandemic trends in ESG investing, and the ways the banking sector implements sustainability in business.
“The global demand for ESG financing instruments is very high and will continue to increase in the near future. A steady trend towards sustainable development practices is especially obvious now that portfolios with ESG factors grow steadily, even in the midst of crisis. Russia’s current regulatory framework for “green” and social investing is absolutely consistent with market demands, motivating businesses to take quicker and more resolute steps towards “green” economy,” Roman Panov pointed out.
Gazprombank’s First Vice President Natalya Tretyak moderated the Strategic Session “Prospects for Cooperation among Russian Companies Implementing ESG Projects: A Joint Position on International Arena”.
“Banks constitute the very link in the economy chain that can significantly facilitate the adoption of sustainable development principles. The array of financial instruments enables an investment paradigm shift towards environmental and social projects, which means that such activities can be developed in Russia and elsewhere. Gazprombank takes active steps to incorporate these principles into its corporate culture – that is big and important work; in addition, the Bank closely cooperates on these issues with a wide range of companies in different sectors,” Natalya Tretyak said.
Last September Gazprombank set up the Council for Sustainable Development to streamline sustainability projects executed with Gazprombank’s financial and investment support (ESG stands for Environment, Social and Governance). The Bank itself puts considerable effort into achieving its goals in this area and works closely with customers that apply ESG principles in their operations, making financing facilities available to them on favorable terms.
The annual Industrial Ecology Conference is held by The Vedomosti business newspaper. It provides a forum for heads of sector-specific regulators, professional associations, subject-matter expert organizations, as well as relevant departments of Russian industrial companies to discuss the most pressing industrial ecology issues, including the range of opportunities for introducing environmentally focused models into the economy.