The main approaches to assessing the comparability of ESG business practices in Russia

Relevance. Sustainable Development Goals and ESG practices are an integral part of Russian business today. The implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals is aimed at meeting the interests of a wide range of stakeholders. To assess the ESG result, the business uses the services of rating agencies that compile ratings and rankings, providing a quantitative and qualitative assessment of the level of sustainable development of the company. However, the results obtained are often assessed by experts as irrelevant and have a number of disadvantages in terms of their comparability.

The purpose is to show the variety of existing approaches and methods that are applicable in current conditions to assess the comparability of ESG practices.

Objectives: to present the existing techniques and techniques for evaluating ESG practices; to analyze the bottlenecks in the existing methodological base for ESG assessment; to assess the prospects for further development of the methodology for evaluating ESG indicators and to make recommendations for the further development of the ESG assessment system in Russia.

Methodology. The methodology presented by the author lies in the field of research of two sciences –sociology and economics. The application of an interdisciplinary approach allows using the expert interview method to identify the bottlenecks which are necessary for analysis and accounting, and the economic and statistical functionality will allow calculations that ensure comparability of the presented indicators.

Results. As a result of the consideration of the main approaches to the assessment of ESG indicators the set of methods and techniques was identified, which forms the basis of the methodological base for evaluating ESG practices. An analysis of existing techniques has revealed a number of bottlenecks that require careful analysis and accounting. Assessing the need for comparability of ESG indicators, expert opinions were divided, which characterizes the ambiguity of the unification process of ESG indicators.

Conclusions. Due to the changing geo-economic and geopolitical conditions, the angle of consideration of ESG practices in Russia has changed dramatically. The degree of government involvement has increased. In the current conditions, the development of methodological recommendations becomes particularly relevant when it comes to determining the proper Russian prerogatives of sustainability.

1. Who Cares Wins: Connecting Financial Markets to a Changing World. United Nanions Department of Public Information; 2004. 41p.

2. Khachatryan A.V. Discrepancy in ESG ratings: foreign regulatory trends. Finansovyy zhurnal = Financial Journal. 2022;14(5):89-104. (In Russ.)

3. Chaldayeva L.A., Krasikova A.S., Fedchin I.N. Non-financial reporting in Russia: prob- lems of formation and development. Finansy i kredit = Finance and Credit. 2015;(13):21-31. (In Russ.)

4. Sustainable production and sustainable development of the enterprise. (In Russ.) Availa- ble at: https://habr.com/ru/company/ds/blog/543898/. (accessed 01.07.2024)

5. Osipova M.A., ed. Non-financial information: regulation, analysis, audit. St. Petersburg: Izdatel'stvo Sankt-Peterburgskogo ekonomicheskogo universiteta; 2021. 209 p. (In Russ.)

6. All about ESG ratings. A special project with the National Rating Agency. EcoStand- ardjournal. (In Russ.) Available at: https://journal.ecostandard.ru/esg/keysy/vse-o-reytingakh-esg-spetsproekt-s-natsionalnym-reytingovym-agentstvom/ (accessed 25.07.2024).

7. Belyanina I.V., Dolganova N.A. ESG-ratings: queries, practice, problems. Rossiyskiy ekonomicheskiy internet-zhurnal = Russian Economic Online Journal. 2023;(4):1-14. (In Russ.)

8. Alekseyev P.V. Directions of implementation of ESG principles in the Russian economy Ekonomicheskiye nauki = Economic Sciences. 2023;(1):31-38. (In Russ.)

9. Flud N.A., Torkhova A.A. Travin D.N. ESG-ratings as benchmarks for investment. Zhur- nal Finansy i Biznes = Finance and Business. 2022;18(2):59-81. (In Russ.)

10. Berg F., Kölbel J.F., Rigobon R. Aggregate Confusion: The Divergence of ESG Ratings. European Finance Review. 2022. N 26(6). https://doi.org/10.1093/rof/rfac033

11. Tolstykh T.O., Kondrat’yeva O.A. Principles and goals of sustainable development in the development strategies of industrial enterprises. REGION: sistemy, ekonomika, upravleniye = REGION: Systems, Economics, Management. 2021;(3):120-127. (In Russ.)

12. Broman G.I., Robert K.H. A framework for strategic sustainable development. Journal of Cleaner Production. 2017;(140):17-31.

13. Demidenko D.S., Malevskaya-Malevich E.D., Kudryashov V.S., Babkin I.A. Evaluation of the effectiveness of enterprises based on the ESG concept. P-Economy = P-Economy. 2022;15(4):82-95. (In Russ.)

14. Guide to corporate ESG risks from Beber. Answers to the top 10 questions about ESG risks. (In Russ.) Available at: https://ESG_riski_2510_d114329496.pdf (accessed 15.07.2024).

15. Methodology of ESG ratings: what is important for companies to know. Business and society. (In Russ.) Available at: https://www.b-soc.ru/pppublikacii/metodologiya-esg-rejtingov-chto-vazhno-znat-kompaniyam/ (aссessed 22.07.2024).

16. Bases for Conclusions & Invitation to Comment on Explosure Drafts. Available at: https://www.sasb.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/invitation-to-Comment-SASB-Cf-RoP.pdf (accessed 24.07.2024).

17. Statement of Intent to Work Together Towards Comprehensive Corporate Reporting: Summary of aligment discussions among leading sustainability and integrated reporting organi- zations CDP, CDSB, GRI and SASB. Available at: https://29kjwb3armds2g3gi4lq2sx1-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/Statement-of-Intent-to-Work-Together-Towards-Comprehensive-Corporate-Reporting.pdf (accessed 24.07.2024).

18. Methodology for assigning ESG ratings. (In Russ.) Available at: ESG_metho- dology_170322.pdf (aссessed 24.07.2024).

19. Reporting of Sberbank PJSC. (In Russ.) Available at: https://www.sberbank.com/common/img/uploaded/files/pdf/yrep/sberbank-ar19-rus.pdf (aссessed 24.07.2024).

20. DEEP DIVE: ESG transformation in the Savings Bank. (In Russ.) Available at: https://ifragreen.ru/frontend/images/PDF/Sber_esgdeepdive_ru.pdf?_t=1638363339 (aссessed 24.07.2024).

21. Chechulin A.V., Malyavin S.N., Lëgostev A.V. From the philosophy of corporate social responsibility to the market and political realities of ESG. Sotsiologiya i parvo = Sociology and Law. 2021;(4):6-11. (In Russ.)

22. Turbina K.E., Jurgens I.Y. (eds.) ESG transformation as a vector of sustainable devel- opment. Vol. 2. Moscow: Aspekt Press; 2022. 650 p. (In Russ.)

23. The Global Risk Report 2022 17-th Edition World Economic Forum. Available at: https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_The_Global_Risks_Report_2022.pdf (accessed 22.07.2024).

24. Katasonova Yu. «We consider the unification of the definition of the ESG rating to be the right and right step towards effective regulation». Vedomosti. Sustainable development. (In Russ.) Available at: https://www.vedomosti.ru/esg/regulation/characters/2023/03/20/967202-unifikatsiyu-opredeleniya-esgreitinga-mi-schitaem-pravilnim-vernim-shagom-na-puti-effektivnomu-regulirovaniyu (accessed 22.07.2024).

25. The Central Bank of the Russian Federation proposed to introduce a single rating scale for ESG ratings. (In Russ.) Available at: https://interfax-ru.turbopages.org/interfax.ru/s/business/880985 (accessed 19.07.2024).

26. The model methodology of the Central Bank's ESG ratings: expert opinion. (In Russ.) Available at: https://oprf.ru/news/modelnaya-metodologiya-reytingov-tsb-mnenie-ekspertov (accessed 20.07.2024).

27. The thirty-eighth issue of the ICSD Digest. MGIMO. (In Russ.) Available at: https://mgimo.ru/about/news/departament/38-digest-mcur/?utm_source=yandex.ru&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=yandex.ru&utm_referrer=yandex.ru (accessed 01.07.2024).

28. Tsypkin Yu. A., Fomina A. V., Chuksin I. V. The Environmental Aspect of the ESG Agenda as a Mechanism for sustainable Development. In: International Scientific Solutions 2022: Proceedings of the Electronic Research Conference. Scientific publishing house Infinity; 2022. P. 173-189.

29. External incentives and loyalty to principles: how to keep the ESG agenda for business. RBC. (In Russ.) Available at: https://trends.rbc.ru/trends/green/626141889a79478aac3630d (ac- cessed 02.07.2024).