Horizon CF, in cooperation with the Moscow Exchange, conducted a study to assess issuers' awareness of sustainable development issues as well as perception of products and services of the Sustainability Sector of the Moscow Exchange.

As part of the study, we conducted detailed interviews with the management of 26 Russian issuers. The main purpose of the study was to assess the current level of integration of the sustainable development principles in the strategies of Russian companies, to identify the ESG agenda and priority areas of development that remain relevant in the current economic conditions.

We made the following conclusions about the development trends of the ESG agenda in Russia:

• Sustainability issues are an integral part of strategic planning for most Russian issuers.
• Issuers are currently facing an unpredictable and volatile business environment, and companies’ priority is shifting from improving their ESG profile to maintaining operational and financial efficiency and maintaining current levels of sustainability practices.
• The disclosure level and transparency of non-financial information is declining under sanctions pressure and restrictions on information disclosure.
• The values ​​of sustainable development are preserved. Issuers are interested in continuing the ESG processes implementation to take a leading position in the sustainability agenda in the long term.

The sustainability agenda is not a separate aspect of business, but a natural part of every business process. We see a demand for sustainable development not only from Western partners, but also from a wider range of stakeholders, including the state, employees, residents of regions of presence, as well as investors and partners from the countries of the Asia-Pacific region. This confirms the importance of maintaining the ESG agenda against the backdrop of current macroeconomic uncertainty.

Yulia Razdrogina, Senior Executive Director of OOO Horizon CF

The market research of responsible financing in Russia, the prospects for its development and key factors of evolution in the medium term was a separate area of ​​the study. Horizon CF also studied the ways of increasing the attractiveness of the Moscow Exchange Sustainable Sector for Russian issuers as a unique platform for placing alternative financial instruments.