Moscow, March 29, 2021 — Gazprombank supported the Earth Hour, an annual environmental campaign, which took place worldwide on Saturday, March 27. The participants turned off the lights for one hour from 20:30 to 21:30 (local time) to raise public awareness of environmental and sustainable development issues.
Gazprombank switched off the exterior lighting of three Moscow offices and encouraged Bank employees to follow its lead. The head office at 16 Raushskaya Embankment, as well as additional offices at 39 Bolshaya Yakimanka Street and 10 3rd Golutvinsky Lane, went dark for an hour on Saturday.
In 2021, the event in Russia was dedicated to the right to access environmental information. It is emphasized that hiding or distorting data on the environment condition can lead to environmental damage.
“The Bank’s joining the Earth Hour highlights the importance of the environmental dimension in Gazprombank’s strategy of transition to sustainable development. By supporting such initiatives, the Bank has the opportunity to draw the attention of both external and internal audiences to environmental issues, to emphasize their inherent importance in today’s world. This year, openness was chosen as a topic of the event, and Gazprombank fully supports this direction providing publicly available information about its operations, including environmental activities,” commented Natalya Tretyak, First Vice President of Gazprombank, Secretary of the Council for Sustainable Development.
The environmental focus is an important component of the development of the ESG agenda at Gazprombank; the Bank is currently working on its Environmental Policy to systematize activities in this area. Much attention is paid to supporting the transition from traditional energy sources to cleaner and more environmentally friendly ones. For example, Gazprombank finances more than 60% of all transactions for the construction of renewable energy facilities, as well as infrastructure construction projects for the transition to liquefied natural gas. In addition, Gazprombank provides information and consulting services for environmental support of projects and advising on subsidies from the federal budget to refund part of the costs under investment projects on introduction of best available technology (BAT). Furthermore, the Bank has been the patron of the leopards living in the Land of the Leopard National Park in Primorye Territory for many years helping to maintain the population of the Far Eastern leopards and creating conditions for their preservation.
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For reference
Earth Hour is the largest international environmental campaign aimed at creating responsible attitude to nature and resources of our planet. The Earth Hour was held in Australia in 2007 for the first time, Russia joined the Earth Hour in 2009. Traditionally the event takes place on the last Saturday of March. The participants – individuals, organizations, municipal and commercial institutions – turn off the lights for one hour (from 20:30 to 21:30 local time) on residential buildings and offices, as well as the illumination of famous city buildings and monuments (The event does not apply to street lighting, aeronautical lights, traffic lights, etc.). It is important that these actions are symbolic and not aimed at saving energy.
Every year, according to the organizers, about 2 billion people in almost 190 countries take part in the Earth Hour, thousands of architectural monuments descend into darkness. In Russia, in particular, the lights of the Kremlin, the State Historical Museum, GUM and TSUM, the Manege, the Bolshoi Theater, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, the Luzhniki stadium, as well as buildings in 13 parks, go off.