National Rating Agency and FBK Enter into Sustainability Cooperation Agreement

The National Rating Agency and FBK have signed an agreement to initiate cooperation on sustainability initiatives.

The parties have agreed to coordinate their efforts to develop and implement sustainability projects and programmes, including those dedicated to the prevention of climate changes and carbon footprint reduction. The companies plan to improve and unify methodologies of ESG ratings and rankings.

One of the main goals of the cooperation is to contribute to the formation of a professional and high quality rating approach for companies focused on sustainable development.

According to Alina Rozentsvet, the General Director of the NRA, for many companies the current economic environment is not a reason to wind up their sustainability initiatives. “Interaction with rating agencies, participation in ESG ratings and rankings give companies an opportunity to declare their commitment to sustainability strategies without risks associated with complete disclosure of financial information,” she says.

Alina Rozentsvet underlines that verifiers of financial statements will play a bigger role due to limited disclosure of information. “When information is not public, it is important to check it. And reporting, even without publication, is critical for companies and their internal stakeholders,” she says.

“In that context, the business community needs to collaborate closely to shape the sustainability agenda and evaluate changes that occur in companies,” she says.

FBK’s Senior Managing Partner Elena Sarafanova points out quickly growing demand for consulting services aimed to systematise and improve companies’ ESG management measures, integration of ESG factors in strategies and operating activities. “It’s the results of that work that are eventually verified by rating agencies and determine the respective rates. It is difficult to overestimate the significance of rating agencies being confident in data obtained during audits of non-financial reports, which is the main source of information about businesses’ sustainability efforts. Therefore, it becomes particularly important to agree on criteria used to evaluate companies’ operations by various players of the sustainability services market. Many experts say that one of the problems that hinder the ESG progress is a shortage of specialists with comprehensive knowledge of various ESG aspects. We hope that our cooperation will help to solve these tasks and promote sustainable development goals in our country,” Elena Sarafanova says.