Based on the quality of life index in Russian cities, VEB.RF, together with Sber, developed an ESG index for the first time.
The top twenty regions and cities at the end of 2023 included territories that achieved a fairly high level in all three ESG components – environment, social sphere and governance. Sevastopol was also among the leaders.
In the “Environment” block, Sevastopol is in 12th place with 44.4 points.
In the “Social Sphere” block, Sevastopol was in fifth place with 50.2 points. As for the social block, in Sevastopol, despite the growth in real incomes of the population, most of the funds are spent on food.
It is noteworthy that Sevastopol entered the TOP 20 regions and was among the leaders in the “Management” section. Experts noted not only the high level of the investment component and anti-corruption practices, but also large-scale digitalization, as well as the promotion of small and medium-sized businesses.
Another advantage of Sevastopol is the high growth rate of investment in fixed assets.
Researchers collected data on 85 Russian regions and 218 cities based on 16 complex factors. All these factors are divided into three areas of sustainable development – they are traditionally referred to by the acronym ESG, which first appeared in a UN report in 2004. E means Environmental (environment), S – Social (society), G – Governance (management).
For example, the index for the “Management” section was calculated based on four factors: investment climate, level of SME development, anti-corruption activities and digitalization. To assess factors for this section, 10-11 indicators were used.
The indices of regions and cities were calculated separately, using different data. For example, to calculate the regional index, we used information from EMISS, Rosstat, various ratings and indices, and when calculating by city, we added data from 2GIS, sociological research, and open Internet sources. In general, there are more indicators for cities than for regions – 68 versus 50.
