“The carbon economy will definitely shape the entire energy agenda in the next 30 years.”

by time news

The global market for “green” financing has reached $ 1.2 trillion, according to the international organization Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI). According to CBI, the majority of the market is investment in the energy sector, followed by low-carbon construction, transportation, water infrastructure and waste management. In Russia, the first issue of green bonds took place only in 2018 and now, according to Expert RA, the volume of this market in the country is about $ 2 billion. 60% of the Russian green financing market, according to its own estimate, is controlled by Gazprombank.

In an interview with Vedomosti, the curator of the development of raw materials assets at Gazprombank, Roman Panov, told why the bank relies on “green” initiatives, how much money will be required for the first ESG projects and whether the world will be able to abandon oil, gas and coal.

– Gazprombank began to actively assert itself in the field of sustainable development (ESG) in 2020. In particular, an ESG council has been created, clients are offered advice on how to improve their positions in ESG ratings. What is the reason for this interest?

By 2020, the total amount of financial resources implemented under the ESG policy worldwide amounted to $ 50 trillion. Just think about this figure! Every year since 2014, the share of financing that meets the Sustainable Development Goals has tripled on average. Therefore, the amount of financing that the bank implements within the framework of the green agenda is already very significant. Today Gazprombank provides more than 60% of the total financing to the Russian green energy sector.

– Which Russian companies are most actively interested in ESG?

These are all the largest companies in the oil and gas sector, it will be difficult to single out here, since this is already a standardized process, especially for public companies. These are also companies of the petrochemical complex, for example, the Sibur company, the largest transport companies, such as Russian Railways.

More and more companies will join the implementation of this policy, as fundamental factors, in particular the UN’s decision to pursue sustainable development goals, force the largest, large and medium-sized companies to comply with these requirements.

– Are you more willing to lend to such companies?

Since we are guided in the framework of our current activities by existing regulations, we treat all companies equally. Another issue is that projects that meet such requirements receive a higher rating.

We work with all clients on the implementation of the principles of sustainable development and help them develop an ESG policy and its implementation. The incentive is the possibility of attracting cheaper, more secure and long-term financing. This is one of the few elements of international financing that is currently not under restrictions. Moreover, the new version of the government decree No. 541 suggests the possibility of lending to projects with compensation of the interest rate on the loan, previously there was only the possibility of compensation for the coupon rate when issuing “green” bonds.

– Could you give an example? How much can the cost of debt financing for a conventional project and ESG differ, all other things being equal?

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