The ESG index is a new coordinate system that helps the country’s regions assess their progress towards sustainable development, exchange best practices and decide where and how to move forward
The first day of April is the date of presentation of the urban environment quality index for 2023, traditionally calculated by the Ministry of Construction of Russia and the Development Institute Dom.RF. This deserves a separate conversation, but for now — about another interactive ESG index of cities and regions of the country, which was presented at the end of March by Beber and VEB.RF*. As promised by the developers, the index, which includes indicators on 16 factors of sustainable development and is designed to become a new platform for the exchange of best practices, will be updated annually.
In principle, the ESG index is a system of coordinates and tools that, by analyzing data in such areas as green energy, environmental management, water and forest resources, accessible environment, investment climate, digitalization level, development of small and medium-sized enterprises and others, will allow territories to assess their progress towards sustainable development and identify areas for further environmental and socio-economic transformation. The sixteen factors of the index are combined into three blocks (environment, society and management), and the number of indicators within one factor does not affect its weight, since the final score displays the average value of the components.
By the end of 2023, the ESG index covers 85 subjects of the Russian Federation and 218 cities of the country. The study shows the top 20 cities and regions with high indicators of sustainable development, as well as leaders in certain areas. Here are some data that may be of particular interest to the real estate market.
The top 20 regions and cities of federal significance, where all three components are at a high level, were (alphabetically) Belgorod Region, Voronezh Region, Kaliningrad Region, Kamchatka Territory, Krasnodar Territory, Leningrad Region, Moscow, Moscow Region, Novosibirsk Region, Penza Region, Perm Region, Republic of Tatarstan, Rostov region, St. Petersburg, Sevastopol, Tyumen Region, Ulyanovsk Region, Khabarovsk Territory, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Yaroslavl Region. The same top 20 cities included Anadyr, Belgorod, Veliky Novgorod, Vologda, Irkutsk, Kazan, Kemerovo, Krasnogorsk, Krasnodar, Lipetsk, Murmansk, Naryan-Mar, Perm, Petrozavodsk, Salekhard, Stavropol, Syktyvkar, Tambov, Khanty-Mansiysk, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.
Now in more detail. The regional leaders of the Environment block were Moscow (72.8 points), the Moscow Region (70), the Ulyanovsk Region (61.4), Ingushetia (54), the Kamchatka Territory (52.9) and the Republic of Tatarstan (52.6). Among the cities in these regions, Kazan (77.4), Krasnogorsk (75.3), Ulyanovsk (68.3), Petropavlovsk—Kamchatsky (58.7) and Magas (58.3) are on the top lines. According to the authors of the rating, the leading positions of these cities and regions are primarily due to efforts aimed at increasing the level of solid municipal waste disposal, the development of specially protected natural areas (protected areas) and improving the efficiency of forestry management.
The most progressive practices in this area turned out to be the introduction of environmental technologies in industry and urban economy (including the development of environmentally friendly modes of transport), as well as the implementation of initiatives to restore natural ecosystems. For the protection of atmospheric air, the Moscow and Ulyanovsk regions received 87 points each. At the same time, the Orel region has increased 2.5 times in four years in terms of the proportion of captured and neutralized substances polluting the atmosphere. The Republic of Tatarstan and the Ulyanovsk region became the leaders in the protection of forest resources: they earned more than 90 points.
The highest level of recycling of MSW is in Moscow and the Moscow region, and the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) has become the leader in terms of the share of protected areas. Within the framework of the indicator on green energy, Primorsky Krai showed an increase in the share of vehicles that have the ability to use electricity as a fuel source by more than nine times in five years. Also, most cities and regions received high marks (median value — 65 points) for water resources, primarily for providing the population with high-quality drinking water from centralized water supply systems.
In the “Society” block, Moscow (64 points), St. Petersburg (64), Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug (57.1), Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug (55.4), Tyumen Region (53.7) and Leningrad Region (52.3) became the regional leaders, and among the top 5 cities were Khanty-Mansiysk (75.1), Salekhard (70.6), Krasnogorsk (65), Tyumen (62.9) and Gatchina (60.5), the most progressive direction turned out to be, in particular, the development of PPP in the field of construction of social facilities. “The leaders of the bloc are not only developing basic social infrastructure (education and healthcare), but also investing in creating a comfortable and sustainable urban environment, which improves the quality of life of the population,” the study emphasizes. By the way, according to the urban environment quality index, which is calculated by VEB.Russia, all regions have shown a steady improvement in the indicator over five years.
Finally, in the “Management” block, Moscow (80.9), Sevastopol (71.4), the Moscow Region (71.4), the Rostov Region (69.8), as well as the Novosibirsk and Belgorod regions and St. Petersburg took the first places, which scored 69.6 points each. The list of leading cities was made up of Novosibirsk (81.7), Krasnogorsk (81.1), Rostov-on-Don (79.9) and Belgorod (76.1).
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As the creators of the index emphasize, these regions and cities stand out not only for their impressive investment component, but also for large-scale digitalization and promotion of small and medium-sized businesses. In particular, digitalization rates above 85 points were found in Moscow, Tatarstan, the Belgorod Region and the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug. Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Ivanovo and Kaliningrad regions showed a high level of SME development (more than 75 points). And the best investment indicators (above 65 points) are typical for the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District, Yakutia, the Leningrad Region and Moscow.
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