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On 19 January 2022, Moscow Exchange announced an updated version of its ESG Guide, "A Guide for Issuers: How to Comply with Best Sustainability Practices". The guide is aimed at companies that are committed to following the principles of sustainable development and being transparent to customers, counterparties and investors.
The updated guide considers current trends in ESG. In particular, it highlights the on-exchange carbon unit market, which began operating in Russia in 2022. The guide provides detailed instructions on how to prepare for the issuance of ESG instruments in the Moscow Exchange Sustainability Sector, a crucial component of Russia's responsible investment infrastructure. It also introduces a new dimension to corporate sustainability through the maintenance of biodiversity and supply chain management.
The guide pays attention to the specific disclosure of non-financial and climatic information, which investors are increasingly paying attention to when valuing a company beyond the financial statements. Moscow Exchange's "A Guide for Issuers: How to Comply with Best Sustainability Practices" details approaches that companies can take to report on the environmental and other sustainability factors of their business model in a changing operating environment.
Natalia Loginova, Director of Issuer Relations at Moscow Exchange,
"Investors and regulators now expect issuers to disclose ESG strategy and sustainability risk management alongside financial statements. Companies, in turn, see an additional growth driver for their own business in integrating ESG principles and reporting on their efforts in this area. Our task as the Russian financial infrastructure is to promote market transparency and help participants to apply best disclosure practices. We have therefore decided to update our guide with new information. We recommend the guide as a handbook for companies that plan to expand the application of sustainability principles in their business, while increasing their transparency to investors and counterparties."
Experts from the rating agency ACRA, the World Wildlife Fund, the audit and consulting group FBK, X5 and Horizon, as well as MKB Bank, took part in preparing the updated guidelines.
Moscow Exchange is continuously making efforts to develop Russia's responsible investment market and financial ESG instruments and to promote them among companies and investors. In July 2021, MOEX published its first ESG Best Practice Guide for Issuers. The aim of Moscow Exchange is to promote the implementation of sustainability principles by Russian companies, improve the quality of sustainability disclosure and create an environment for responsible investment.
