The city has approved the criteria for assigning the status of compliance with the sustainable development goals to the capital's companies
Moscow's ESG status consists of 101 indicators that take into account business reputation, environmental and ecological impact, social and economic aspects. The methodology has been developed taking into account the recommendations of the Bank of Russia and the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation. This was reported by Vladimir Efimov, Deputy Mayor of Moscow for Economic Policy and Property and Land Relations.
The procedure for assessing the organization's performance is based on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted in 2015. They are aimed at meeting human needs and improving the standard of living, as well as preserving resources for future generations. Compliance of an enterprise's activities with the ESG-strategy can attract "colored" investments.
"Moscow is actively involved in the ESG agenda. The city has fully ensured the fulfillment of indicators on six SDGs, including thanks to the program of stimulating the creation of places of labor application, green corridor, public-private partnership, offset contracts. Assigning ESG status to specific organizations will be another tool for attracting investment in the capital's economy and meeting SDG indicators. Their advantages are the formation of an image of a responsible and sustainable company, access to new suppliers and creation of logistics chains, easier access to foreign markets and additional opportunities for promotion in them taking into account the global trend towards sustainable development", - said Vladimir Efimov.
ESG-status can be obtained by any organization in the Russian Federation whose area of activity is industry, power generation, waste management, transport, construction, real estate operations, hotels and catering, trade, IT and communications, professional and scientific activities, public administration.
To obtain an ESG-status certificate, you need to apply: you can fill in the information on the Investment Portal of the City of Moscow or send the completed application to investmoscow@mos.ru. Assignment of ESG-status for the enterprise will take 40 days from the date of application submission, of which 10 days will be spent on evaluation. The applicant answers qualitative and quantitative questions that relate to the indicators of each block. Points can be both awarded for answering the questions and reduced for legal violations and tax arrears.
The assessment consists of several stages: document verification, data verification, interviews and on-site inspections.
The assignment of points on the application and on-site inspection is carried out by the authorized organization of SBU "SAUI". Business reputation check is carried out on open sources, after which a report is formed for the interdepartmental commission, which makes a decision on assigning ESG-status by voting.
According to the results, three levels of ESG status can be assigned: high (more than 75 points), medium (50 to 74 points) and low (25 to 49 points). If 24 points or less are assigned, a "candidate" ESG status is assigned.
"Companies that have passed the SDG compliance review will be assigned one of the ESG statuses: ESG-A, ESG-B and ESG-C or "candidate" depending on the points scored. These are subject to mandatory annual validation. ESG status "candidate" is assigned for one year, the others - for three years", - said Vladislav Ovchinsky, Minister of the Moscow City Government and Head of the Department of Investment and Industrial Policy of Moscow.
Obtaining Moscow's ESG status gives companies the opportunity to receive a reduced interest rate on loans from partner banks, improved image due to compliance with ESG principles and special conditions for placement of the company's financial instruments.
