“Business is waiting for a sign from government and corporations to implement ESG practices”

Photo by: CHUNYIP WONG / iStock

To keep the development of ESG practices on track, a signal from the government and large corporations is important for the market. "Green procurement for state and municipal needs and facilitated entry into supply chains for large domestic companies, primarily retailers, is a real incentive for small and medium-sized businesses to begin to ’raise’ their standards in environmental protection, social justice and corporate governance to the highest standards.

You might ask: “How can a company incorporate the climate agenda into its corporate governance practices?” The simplest step is to introduce an internal price on carbon to account for the “carbon intensity” of new investment and renovation projects at production facilities. RUSAL set such a price back in 2017; today it is €20 per tonne of CO2-equivalent greenhouse gas emissions, a sufficiently tangible indicator to assess both risks and opportunities for new projects, new technologies and new products.

Cover photo: AvigatorPhotographer / iStock