Meeting of the Expert Council on Sustainable Development under the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia

Meeting of the Expert Council on Sustainable Development under the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia

At the fifth meeting of the Expert Council on Sustainable Development, chaired by the Minister of Economic Development of Russia Maxim Reshetnikov, the director of the Association of Clusters, Technoparks and SEZs of Russia, Mikhail Labudin, presented the report “Non-financial, including climate, SEZ reporting.”

During his speech, the director of the Association of Clusters and Technoparks of the Russian Federation outlined the key achievements of the sustainable development direction for 2023: registration of the Organization Standard developed by the Association “Sustainable development of management companies of infrastructure sites. General requirements”, presentation of the first ESG rating of the Russian SEZ and the first stage of the experiment to achieve carbon neutrality of the SEZ.

In 2023, 4 SEZs joined the experiment: SEZ Technopolis Moscow, SEZ Lipetsk, SEZ Alga and SEZ Avangard. As part of the first stage of the experiment, special economic zones calculated greenhouse gas emissions for the management company, residents, as well as total emissions for the site. The second stage of the experiment will be the development of a low-carbon development strategy for the pilot SEZ.

Mikhail Labudin outlined the relevance of this work:

Special economic zones can play a significant role in low-carbon development, as they provide unique opportunities for the introduction of innovative technologies and practices that can then be scaled up regionally. We are pleased to present the results of the first stage of the experiment to achieve carbon neutrality in the SEZ and are ready to further work together with the Russian Ministry of Economic Development and other stakeholders to achieve our ambitious goal of promoting the creation of sustainable and environmentally responsible industrial infrastructure.