Moscow, 15 May 2023 — Gazprombank has become the General Partner of the ECUMENE 2023 Global Financial Forum, which will be held at GES-2 House of Culture, Moscow, on September 27–29.
The event is supported by the United Nations, the Convention on Biological Diversity, UNEP Russia, the Russian Academy of Sciences and Ivannikov Institute for System Programming of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the All-Russian Society for the Protection of Nature, as well as other prominent Russian and international organizations. V–A–C Foundation is in charge of the session on art and culture.
The Forum is a unique platform to develop sustainable development ideas in line with the country’s priorities. The participation of international experts allows the Forum to foster productive discussions on the key areas and reinforce partnerships aimed at implementing sustainable development projects. The Bank highly appreciates this cooperation, including as part of the promotion of sustainable development in its key corporate customers. It especially values the opportunity to share expertise with both the business and scientific community in Russia as well as representatives of foreign institutions and companies.
This year’s business program has been developed taking into account the recommendations of round tables held throughout the year by the ECUMENE club with the active participation of UN representatives, heads of federal and regional executive and legislative bodies of the Russian Federation, experts from the business and scientific communities, as well as the most prominent social and professional organizations. More than 20 events on the most pressing ESG issues were held over a year.
16 thematic sessions of the three-day business program of the 2023 Forum will bring together over 100 speakers from all over the world. The experts will discuss climate change and sustainable development in cities, the economics of biodiversity and nature-based solutions, and women in management. The Bank’s top managers in charge of its main business area will be participating in the 2023 Forum.
ECUMENE 2023 will include a special block on the prospects and aspects of a sustainable economy as the representatives of central banks and financial institutions as well as scientists and businesspersons will discuss the creation and activities in carbon markets, the trends and problems of the financial and monetary systems, blue economy, and sustainable reporting.
The technological development and digitalization, section will include talks on the use of artificial intelligence, new kinds of currencies, cybersecurity and fintech, and transition to carbon neutrality.
This year, the Forum will also pay special attention to the development of human potential, culture, science and education, as well as involving the youth in implementing sustainable development goals. GES-2 will host a talk on how culture can transform the world and the future of cultural interaction in the context of the new globalization. The V–A–C Foundation is the track’s partner.
ECUMENE’s key mission is to promote Russia’s position within the global sustainable development agenda, developing new trends for the period from 2030 to 2050, and the implementation of the UN’s Our Common Agenda. The results of the Forum are presented annually at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP).
As usual, the Forum will be held in a hybrid format: most speakers will meet face-to-face in Moscow, while others will join the discussion online. Guests will also be able to choose whether they want to come in person or watch the event online.
You can read the detailed program for the ECUMENE 2023 Global Finance Forum as well as register for it on its official website at www.esgcongress.com.
Venue: GES-2, 15 Bolotnaya Embankment.
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The first ECUMENE Congress was held in Moscow in September 2021. More than 130,000 viewers from 50 countries watched the eventful program that featured more than 70 speakers from 16 countries. The discussion results were presented at the Fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 15) in Kunming, China, and the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Great Britain (COP26).
The Global Financial Congress ECUMENE 2022 brought together more than 100 speakers from 22 countries. More than 300,000 people in 83 countries viewed the three-day business program of the event online. Its results were presented, in particular, at the 27th Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC (COP 27) in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. Three discussion sessions were held for it: Energy Transition, Nature-Based Solutions, and the Economics of the Climate Agenda.
Gazprombank (Joint Stock Company) is one of the largest multi-faceted financial institutions in Russia, providing a wide range of products and services to corporate and private customers, financial institutions, institutional and private investors. The total number of its outlets in Russia exceeds 480. The Bank also has representative offices in Astana (Kazakhstan), Beijing (China), Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia), New Delhi (India) and Tashkent (Uzbekistan). Its customers number over 4 million individuals and about 92,000 legal entities.
The Bank provides services to key sectors of the Russian economy and has a strong position on national and global financial markets, holding Russian leadership in arranging and underwriting corporate bond issues, asset management, private banking, corporate financing, and other areas of investment banking.
Retail business is also a strategically important activity of the Bank, and its scale is consistently increasing. Private customers are offered a full range of services: bank cards, deposits, consumer and mortgage lending, FX transactions, brokerage services, insurance programs and much more.
The Bank is one of the technology leaders in the Russian financial market. Over the recent years, the Bank has successfully implemented a digital transformation project, which has remodeled its IT infrastructure, introduced new services to improve customer experience, and relaunched remote service channels.
Since its establishment in 1990, Gazprombank has been guided by the principles of sustainable development. The Bank takes an active part in all the important areas of the current ESG agenda.
V–A–C is a non-profit foundation established in 2009 by Leonid Mikhelson. It works with Russian artists and promotes contemporary culture through exhibitions, educational projects, publishing, and performative practices. The foundation’s projects are hosted in its own spaces – GES-2 in Moscow and Zattere in Venice – as well as in partnerships with various organizations all over the world.
GES-2 is a space in the heart of Moscow that brings together various art forms from exhibitions to clay modeling. It hosts workshops, lectures, film screenings, master classes, concerts, and performances. The mission of GES-2 is to make contemporary culture accessible for all and create an environment that encourages the development of the professional art community.
GES-2 is the main space of V–A–C. The foundation works with Russian artists and strives to expand the cultural landscape through exhibitions, book publishing, and education.