Russia's "sustainable development" cult is decadent & depraved

The "ESG agenda" has powerful supporters in Russia. This is bad?

UN word salad: Gross in any language.

New evidence suggests Russia’s cabal of oligarchs (sorry, “merit-based collective of friendly business leaders”) has been binge-drinking the Sustainability Kool-Aid. Perhaps it’s time for an intervention?

We naively believed Herman Gref was Russia’s leading ESG witch doctor, but as it turns out, the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, a club of 40,000 business enterprises, also actively practices Green Voodoo.

The organization’s vice president, Maxim Fateev, typed up the following environment-saving sorcery on July 21, 2022:

What does Fateev mean by “taking on a new shape”? Patience, little lamb, you shall soon find out….

Some juicy excerpts:

In addition to the external track, there are also requirements for the Russian market. Just the other day, within the framework of the forum “Strong Ideas for the New Times” held by the Agency for Strategic Initiatives, a specialized section devoted to environmental technologies was held. It was noted that the VEB.RF strategy stipulates that all projects in which VEB Group participates must comply with ESG standards in the SDG [Sustainable Development Goals] methodology. Thus, one of the main investors in our country defines the principles of ESG as important and relevant.

According to our estimates, this is primarily due to the fact that the sustainable development goals are focused on each of us, citizens. To improve the level and quality of our lives, solve environmental and social problems, build management models based on a focus on people as the main value.

That is why, in our opinion, this topic is relevant for medium, small and even micro businesses. Because these are, first of all, people, citizens of our country. And so this topic continues to be the focus of attention of the entire system of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation. Chambers of Commerce and Industry in the regions are actively interacting with entrepreneurs, including to inform them about the main trends and basic principles of the ESG agenda. […]

According to our estimates, an integrated approach is needed that will help solve not only climate problems, but also social problems, tasks to change the system of business perception and management.

The climate agenda for small and medium-sized businesses is not just reporting, auditing the carbon footprint and calculations to reduce it, it is a set of measures that affect the quality of life of a person, his thinking. It is no coincidence that the issue of developing education in the field of ecology from the school curriculum to business education is being discussed more and more actively.

Large companies are developing separate programs, including in cooperation with the system of secondary and higher education, and the country’s leading universities are opening separate master’s programs on sustainable development. It is an integrated approach that will speed up the solution of the tasks of preserving the environment and responding to climate change. And all this is impossible without the participation in the process of all business entities, business associations, the scientific and expert community.

Not only are Russia’s leading businesses reciting ESG incantations, they’re calling for the country’s education system to join their cult so that future generations will be able to continue their sustainable development crusade.

But there’s more (of course).

Thank goodness.

On July 4, Sberbank announced it had developed “new tools” for assessing ESG compliance in Russia. Because now that the western ESG nannies are gone, how will Russian firms receive their Sustainability certificates?

Gref has heard your cries for help; have no fear, Gref is here:

“Sberbank was actively involved in this agenda even before, now we have rethought, understood what needs to be done, and we are bringing to the market a number of practical tools that can be used right now, they are already ready. The first thing I wanted to talk about is green procurement, this is the aspect that allows a large number of companies to be involved in the ESG agenda,” [Ivan Barsolla, executive director of the directorate for the ESG agenda of Sberbank] said.

According to him, foreign investors who were the driver of the agenda, representatives of the ESG infrastructure, and international certification bodies have recently left Russia. Domestic companies have been excluded from ESG ratings. All this imposed a number of difficulties in the implementation of the agenda.

Barsolla said that the green procurement tool allows customers of goods and services to put forward additional requirements for suppliers on the ESG agenda, and evaluate them according to the methodology developed by Sber. Companies, in turn, receive a certificate of conformity.

Gref in his famous ESG body armor (he’s actually pretending to be blind to make sure that Sberbank knows how to steal money from disabled people).

BONUS ESG EXTRAVAGANZA: Rumored fugitive-from-justice Anatoly Chubais has vowed to help develop renewable energy in Russia! What a legend.

He never stops.

According to Twitter, Chubais fled Russia in March and now lives in constant fear of being hacked to death with an ice axe.

It’s true he left Russia; but under what circumstances?

Maybe we’ll never know. But it really doesn’t seem like Chubais is worried about inexplicably falling out of a window or something—because he recently gave an interview to TASS in which he disclosed he was still actively participating in developing “renewable energy” in Russia:

“My goal is not the post of chairman of the Association for the Development of Renewable Energy (ARVE), but the renewable energy industry itself in Russia. While I helped this post, I held it. When it became clear that replacing me would help renewable energy, I myself initiated the replacement of the co-chairman. This is also important because I expect an attack on renewable energy in Russia. And although it is professionally unfounded, it will be politically motivated. I remain a member of the ARVE presidium and in this capacity I am going to continue supporting renewable energy in Russia,” he told TASS on Tuesday.

What is ARVE, exactly? From the group’s website:

The Association for the Development of Renewable Energy (ARVE) is a non-profit organization representing the interests of participants in the renewable energy sector in Russia and leading activities to create a favorable investment climate and promote the use of renewable energy sources in the Russian Federation.

ARVE is the leading expert and communication platform in Russia in the field of energy based on renewable energy sources.

We will bring together a wide range of stakeholders, including generating companies, developers of renewable energy projects, manufacturers and suppliers of equipment, research centers and financial institutions, in order to jointly ensure the formation of a reliable institutional environment and an effective infrastructure for investment in the renewable energy sector.

The organization has an office in Moscow, and its membership roster includes Rusnano, the state-funded company that nearly went bankrupt under Chubais’ leadership.

What does it mean?

Putin's "sustainability envoy" is a Bill Gates clone