Photo by: Anton Vakhrushev / iSock
Increasing economic problems, rising prices for resources and food, increasing inequalities in society inevitably bring to the fore the concept of ‘security’ in a broad sense (food, environmental, energy, etc.). This will stimulate the development of projects at the interface of environmental and social aspects and accelerate the development of a circular economy.
For example, within the energy sector, in the short term, according to experts at State Street Global Advisors, the focus of investors will be on energy security that allows the use of traditional fuels (oil and hard coal).
Perhaps the focus will change somewhat, and society will stop fighting climate change and focus on adaptation. But the main factor will still be to reduce the negative impact on people.
New country coalitions will emerge and develop on the basis of interstate alignment of development strategies on green economy, for example, within the framework of Eurasian economic integration until 2025 (all countries — Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia — have adopted some form of decarbonisation and green economy development strategies).
It is important that business continues to retain the principles of sustainable development in its strategies. According to a survey conducted by the Green Brands League, together with its regular intellectual partners, Business Solutions and Technologies and the ANO Russian Quality System (Roskachevo), 70% of companies remain faithful to their strategic objectives as recorded in their brands’ sustainability strategies.
The survey also showed that 70‑80 percent of companies do not sequester budgets that target sustainable development, including environmental and climate change programmes.
Moreover, companies that used to prepare annual sustainability reports continue to do so (like UC RUSAL) or plan to continue to do so (like Unilever), despite the lack of strict government requirements in this regard.
Cover photo: MikeDo / iSock
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