The First International Congress on Sustainable Finance started in Moscow on September 29.
The world's leading players, regulators and experts on the green agenda discussed common approaches to sustainable development and climate change at the First International Congress on Sustainable Finance: ECUMENE 2021, which takes place on September 29 and 30 in Moscow.
The prospects for development and the problems of implementing sustainable finance have long been high on the international agenda, with all nations prioritizing the reduction of negative impacts on nature and the environment. Participants of the Congress in various discussions identified the need to unite efforts, develop common principles, rules and approaches to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the implementation of the Paris Agreement on Climate.
At the UN-supported Plenary Session of the Congress, the world's leading players: Russia, the United States and the European Union for the first time jointly declared the need to create uniform global rules for responsible finance development.
‘We need to ensure zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. There are certain obligations of a number of countries, but if they are not fulfilled by 2030, the consequences will be simply catastrophic. In that case, there will be a two-degree temperature increase’ said Selwin Hart, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Climate Action, Assistant Secretary-General for the Climate Action Team, during the Plenary Session.
‘For us to be trusted, there is need to have a clear climate change policy. We need to use all our skills and knowledge to transition to a green economy’ he added.
He was supported by Inger Anderson, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). She noted that the leading governments and economies no longer have an opportunity to postpone joining efforts in the field of nature conservation and careful attitude to the ecology of our planet. According to her, expert and research groups said a month ago that the process of climate change has already entered an active phase. ‘The Earth's nature doesn't need the financial industry, the financial industry needs the Earth's nature’ she said.
Elena Borisenko, Deputy Chairwoman of the Management Board of Gazprombank JSC, emphasized that major banks and representatives of the financial sector are already paying special attention to the development of responsible financing and the ESG agenda.
‘Undoubtedly, the financial world cannot stand aside from the problem of climate and the need to build a system of sustainable business development, which emerged a long time ago, but has become urgent in this century.
Our management strategy fully meets the goals and principles of sustainable development. Gazprombank JSC is in the process of becoming an active member of the United Nations Environment Program Finance Initiative. This is not marketing to us, for us it is not nothing, it is a matter of life. We sincerely believe that it is extremely important to increase the wellbeing of the planet, to ensure our customers' successful long-term development, and to help them implement and promote their amazing projects as part of the sustainable development agenda. The largest industries are really concerned about the need to modernize to reduce their carbon footprint, to reduce the overall environmental impact on nature, to improve all processes related to the restoration and multiplication of the biodiversity of our planet’ she stressed.
According to her, already now Gazprombank JSC finances more than 60% of all alternative energy sources in the Russian Federation. ‘This is not a trendy issue, we have been doing this for a year or two. Gazprombank JSC is the leader in financing alternative energy projects in the Russian Federation. It is impossible to exist in the financial world without taking into account the global agenda and major global trends’ she added.
‘Russia now has a huge window of opportunity to attract foreign investors who are responsible, long-term, faithful, confident in the need to improve the climate and ecology on the planet. Today, the funds, which have accumulated a huge flow of funds to finance sustainable development projects, are interested in clear, transparent, ‘green’ projects. And it is Russia that can offer such projects to the whole world’ says Elena Borisenko.
In his turn, Viacheslav Fetisov, Chairman of the All-Russian Society for Nature Conservation and UN Goodwill Ambassador, emphasized that Russia must and will play a key role in the global environmental agenda.
‘I am absolutely convinced that it is impossible to solve the problem of climate change on our planet without the participation of the Russian Federation, which possesses unique natural wealth and is an ecological donor to the entire world. We are confronted with global problems that no country in the world can solve alone. We must work together to work out the rules of the game, find common solutions, listen to and hear the proposals coming from all parts of our beautiful planet, and work together as a team for the future of the earth, our children and grandchildren. It is time for Russia, which is actively involved in the international environmental agenda, to attack. And many organizations, both Russian and international, support us in this’ stressed Viacheslav Fetisov.
Speaking about the upcoming conferences in Kunming and Glasgow, the Speaker noted the need for all participants to create and comply with the same rules of the game at the international environmental arena. At the same time any sustainable investments: green, white, and blue, according to Viacheslav Fetisov, should be completely excluded from the sanctions policy.
International Congress on Sustainable Finance: ECUMENE 2021 is supported by the United Nations. The general partner of the event is Gazprombank JSC.
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