Aifc.kz – The Chief Executive Officer of the AIFC Green Finance Centre, Aidar Kazybayev, took part in the Round Table on ESG, Sustainable Development and Social Entrepreneurship, organised by the Regional Association of Employers "Moscow Confederation of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (employers)" and made a presentation at the session on "ESG - new business standards".
Aidar Kazybayev noted that nowadays business is actively developing environmental, social and corporate areas taking into account ESG standards. The pandemic has accelerated the adoption of ESG practices around the world, as human health and the environment are a big part of our recovery.
Kazybayev introduced the AIFC Green Finance Centre - the only company in the CIS that has been working in this direction since 2016 to the Round Table participants. The Centre was the first in the CIS since the signing of the Paris Agreement to develop a taxonomy on green finance standards (ICMA).
Over the past year alone, with the assistance of the Centre, Kazakhstan financial institutions have issued a total of seven green and social bonds, as well as a green loan. Social bonds are aimed at the construction of medical rehabilitation centres.
Currently, the Centre advises organisations and companies from Russia, Belarus, Armenia and Uzbekistan on the implementation of instruments of green and social financing.
Kazybayev informed that at present the ESG agenda is increasingly discussing issues of creating an “ESG officer” position in companies. On this issue, A. Kazybayev expressed the opinion that in the conditions of creating a culture of ESG practice, it is advisable to assign the so-called "functions of an ESG officer" to corporate secretaries, who are in every bank and company. It is up to the corporate secretary to screen solutions through the ESG lens, thereby helping companies become ESG oriented.
