Ms. Irina BAKHTINA, Deputy CEO for Sustainable Development at En+ and Director for Sustainable Development at RUSAL — the largest independent producer of renewable energy and low-carbon aluminum — has been elected as the new Chair of the Supervisory Board of the ESG Alliance. Since the formation of the ESG Alliance, Irina has led the work of the Committee on Climate, Ecology, and Environmental Protection, in 2023 she joined the Supervisory Board, and since 2024 was nominated to co-chair the ESG Alliance Committee on Infrastructure and Standardization.
The ESG Alliance is currently the only major business association in Russia dedicated solely to the sustainable development agenda. The initiative to create such a union of forward-thinking companies — those that have deliberately chosen the path of ESG transformation or have already embedded environmental, social, and governance principles into their business models — was first proposed by Mr. Herman GREF, head of Sberbank, at the Eastern Economic Forum in September 2021. Today, the Alliance includes 23 companies recognized as sustainability leaders in their respective sectors, including industry, finance, retail, pharmaceuticals, etc.
“The ESG Alliance is known — first and foremost thanks to the balanced approach of its long-standing CEO and our distinguished colleague, Mr. Andrey SHARONOV — for its commitment to common sense and its pursuit to prioritize in the global SDG2030 agenda only those elements that are most relevant to the needs of those affected by large Russian companies, — local communities, SMEs in our supply chains, public opinion leaders, and, ultimately, the current and future employees of our companies”, — said Irina BAKHTINA. “All of the Alliance’s flagship initiatives, as it recently celebrated its third anniversary, are aimed at equipping both member organizations and our followers with the most effective tools for considering the interests of these stakeholders.”
“Arguably, the foundational initiative of our association has been the Methodology on evalutation of business contribution to the achievement of Russia’s national development goals,” — noted Andrey SHARONOV, CEO of the ESG Alliance. “There is much talk today about the ‘nationalization’ of the sustainable development agenda, which aims to ensure a balance of stakeholder interests. However, the ESG Alliance is the only organization that has proposed a real mechanism linking large-scale business initiatives — focused on IMPROVING quality of life, ensuring environmental and social well-being, and unlocking individual potential — with the national development goals”.
Other ESG Alliance’s flagship projects include the Atlas of the ESG ecosystem in Russia, Russia’s first digital ESG data matching service “ESG Disclosure”, the Quality of Life Index for Small and Medium Industrial Cities, expert recommendations to the Public Council under the Ministry of Natural Resources regarding the launch of a federal project “Circular Economy”, targeting the construction, industrial, and energy sectors, methodological recommendation and a standard questionnaire for the suppliers ESG-assessment, methodological recommendations on climate risks, and the interactive map of climate projects and initiatives. These projects support data-driven sustainability management, enhance the reliability of non-financial reporting, assist in building resilient supply chains, and support climate adaptation for industrial and urban infrastructure and are recognized both for their strategic impact and practical value to sustainability specialists.
