Achieving the national development goals is currently one of the Russian Government’s top priorities. Meanwhile, the consolidation of efforts by the business community toward the country’s socio-economic development has reached an unprecedented level. However, a key challenge remains— the business sector's contributions are often difficult to calculate and evaluate using metrics that would be easy to understand for the government. This prompted the Alliance member companies to develop a practical tool to digitalize their contribution.
The methodology is based on the current list of activities from the Unified Plan for achieving Russia’s national development goals and reflects the latest requirements from both Russian and international ESG disclosure standards. Its indicators align with existing sustainability practices of Russian companies, were developed in collaboration with the expert community, and harmonized by over 20 of the country’s largest companies across multiple industries. The methodology includes 77 business indicators, of which 33 indicators (so-called “basic”) have been included in Appendix No. 2 of the draft Sustainability Reporting Standard by the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation
In 2024, version 1.0 of the Methodology was tested within the Alliance by companies from six different industries. It demonstrated a high average data collection rate of 61% across all indicators. Based on these results, the methodology was enhanced, and version 2.0 is already being used by several Alliance members, including X5 Group, En+, RUSAL, Polyus, and others, to disclose company’s contribution in their ESG reports for 2024. The version 2.0 (in Russian) is now publicly available and can be piloted by any company as part of its next non-financial reporting cycle.
"The idea of evaluating companies’ contribution not only to the UN SDGs but also to Russia’s national development goals first emerged at the end of 2022. It took about a year and a half to develop and adjust the methodological framework and indicators set and conduct the initial pilot testing. What began as a forward-looking concept has become highly relevant, as demand for such data is rapidly growing among a wide range of stakeholders, including regulators. Crucially, the methodology enables the digitization of business contribution in measurable terms — both in financial value and in the number of beneficiaries, expressed in absolute and relative terms. As a result, each company receives a ‘digital profile’ of its contribution—metrics that are easy to understand to federal and regional authorities. This information can be used not only in sustainability reporting but also to strengthen companies’ reputation with federal and regional agencies, as well as for external communications with various stakeholder groups. During the internal piloting stage, we validated the methodological assumptions both through companies’ business practices and in collaboration with methodologists from VEB.RF. In 2025, we plan to continue enhancing the tool based on the initial results of its adoption by the Alliance members and the broader market. We welcome feedback and collaboration”, — notes Elena Groznaya, Deputy CEO of the ESG Alliance.
