Russian aluminium titan UC Rusal announced this week that it is a charter member of the National ESG Alliance, which is a new Russian business association dedicated to transparency in environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG).
The National ESG Alliance is a group of over two dozen Russian and international firms in a wide range of economic sectors. The Alliance is intended to be a forum for sharing knowledge and experience among businesses, governments, and society at large on developing norms and standards for ESG, forming of common principles and approaches to reporting, developing of partnerships, interacting and implementing of common programs and projects, and investment support for breakthrough ideas focused on ESG transformation to achieve sustainable development goals.
Rusal’s General Director Evgenii Nikitin elaborated upon the purposes of the alliance in a related press release.
“The creation of the Alliance is a result of the global challenges facing Russian business. The intensive phase of the ESG transition that we are entering requires the combined efforts of both those who, like RUSAL, have become pioneers in their sectors, and those who must catch up in order not to lose competitiveness in global markets. Companies cannot afford to not be forward thinking in terms of their ESG strategies. RUSAL’s ESG transformation covers not only the main business areas, such as the cardinal technological re-equipment of existing aluminium production facilities with a serious reduction in environmental impact, but also programs that ensure the qualitative development of the social sphere in the cities of our presence, such as the construction of hospitals to combat the coronavirus pandemic. We are ready to share our knowledge, experience and initiatives with the members of the Alliance and all stakeholders on the basis of partnership and cooperation.”
The Alliance is an outgrowth of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok in September, which was actively supported by both Russian and international companies.