Sovcombank, the leader in ESG banking in Russia, joined the United Nations’ Climate Neutral Now movement to strengthen its non-financial reporting transparency and support the environmental goals. Sovcombank will measure, reduce, and annually report the greenhouse gas emissions as the first Russian signatory bank.

The Climate Neutral Now initiative is launched by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to increase climate action. It was evolved to become a tool for awareness-raising, capacity building, and development of collaborative efforts through promoting estimation of carbon footprints and reduction. An initiative is therefore a tool that supports achieving a climate-neutral (net-zero) world by 2050, as enshrined in the Paris Agreement.

Sovcombank is one of the leading ambassadors of the transition to a low-carbon economy. The bank set new ESG targets in its Sustainability Report 2020, including reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions from its own operations by 2030 and from both operational and attributable emissions by 2055. By joining the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) in December 2021, Sovcombank increased the target and announced its ambition to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions associated with operational and financing activities sooner by 2050.

Dmitry Gusev, chairman of the Management Board of Sovcombank:

“We actively contribute to initiatives that support responsible transformation and low-carbon transition aiming to inspire and encourage our clients’ decisive action towards achieving their environmental goals. We are proud to be the first Russian bank signed the global pledge of the Climate Neutral Now challenge and accelerate the pathway towards national and global climate neutrality.”