Ural Federal University: University Discusses the Role of Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance

Yesterday the Ural Federal University started a two-day project session to develop initiatives as part of the ESG agenda for the Ural Interregional Research and Education Center (UIREC) Advanced Manufacturing Technologies and Materials.

Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (from the English words Environmental, Social, Governance, ESG) – three criteria according to which the decision on possible cooperation with the company or refusal from it is made. ESG is a set of company performance standards which socially aware investors use for checking potential investments. Environmental criteria define how a company acts as a caretaker of nature.

“This session shows how important it is to be in the forefront of modern industrial trends. ESG agenda has been actively developing in Russia since August of this year. This is an extremely important intellectual topic. Just a month ago we opened a new carbon landfill near Ekaterinburg, the second in Russia. We hope that the work being done here in science will soon benefit our companies. All this is done to make our production low-carbon. And all the approaches and methods that will allow to achieve this, we will try to understand as much as possible,” Igor Manzhurov, Ural Interregional Research and Education Center (UIREC) Development Director, said at the opening of the session.

The project session will result in the identification of strengths and weaknesses, as well as opportunities for the development of the Ural Interregional Research and Education Center (UIREC) ESG agenda. In addition, it is planned to form a list of key interested parties and fix the basic interests. Separate emphasis will be placed on the formation and packaging of project initiatives for interaction with industrial enterprises in the region.