Saint Petersburg, 6 June 2024
— Gazprombank is creating a new platform aimed at helping experts from the
BRICS member nations develop key initiatives in the field of sustainable
development. The Association is intended for ongoing collaboration to ensure a
common approach to sustainable financing, carbon markets, energy transition and
other areas of the sustainable development agenda. The idea was announced by
Gazprombank First Vice President Ekaterina Salugina-Sorokovaya during a session
entitled “BRICS Expansion. New Opportunities for Business Cooperation” held at
the XXVII St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
The
initiative was initially put forward by the green financing subgroup of the
BRICS Business Council (which Gazprombank currently chairs) and received the
support not only of the subgroup’s foreign participants, but also the heads of
the Business Council’s working groups on the Russian side where, in fact, the first
draft of an agreement has already been produced. Following its approval, the Association’s
first meeting could take place during the next BRICS Business Forum — possibly
as early as the end of October this year in Moscow.
The
establishment of an Association is intended to ensure that initiatives
requiring copious amounts of methodological input actually get implemented. Such
initiatives include the creation of a concept for transitional financing and
the launch of a single infrastructure for the BRICS carbon market. With the
BRICS nations generally having a high share of carbon-intensive industry, transitional
financing – intended to help companies hitherto denied access to green
financing attract and secure decarbonisation funding – is one of the key areas
for development.
Ekaterina
Salugina-Sorokovaya: “The establishment
of this Association will be one of the landmark events of Russia’s BRICS
chairmanship and will mark the beginning of even more intensive levels of cooperation
between the member nations. Not only will it allow countries to promote their national
interests in terms of sustainable development, the Association will also help
coordinate the methodological work carried out in support of key initiatives, and
ensure the implementation of agreements that have already been reached.”
