In total, the signing of the “Memorandum of Understanding on the intention to cooperate on the creation of a national ESG club”, in addition to DBK, the Administration of the Astana International Financial Center and the AIFC Green Finance Center, RES Association “Qazaq Green”, domestic second-tier banks and subsoil users attended the event.
“We follow ESG principles both in our work and in financing projects. Enterprises with modern technologies that reduce the impact on the environment, as well as projects in the field of renewable energy, are our priority. We are confident that the creation of a national ESG club will help promote the principles of sustainable development in Kazakhstan,” commented Ruslan Iskakov.
The text of the memorandum states that it defines the general areas of cooperation and coordination of the parties to create a national ESG club in Kazakhstan. The club will become a platform for the exchange of experience, information, technologies and international practices in the field of ESG between representatives of various business areas and the government agencies.
The National ESG Club has several goals at once: minimizing the impact on the environment, reducing the carbon footprint and decarbonizing the economy, increasing energy efficiency and energy saving, improving working conditions, monitoring social projects implemented by market entities, as well as improving the corporate governance standards in Kazakhstan.
It should be noted that the Development Bank of Kazakhstan adopted its own Sustainable Development Policy in 2019. Within the framework of this document, the Bank strives to follow the principles of careful and rational pro-environment attitude. When financing investment projects, DBK evaluates the impact on the environmental situation in the territories where they are implemented.
The criteria for investment decisions taken by the Development Bank are not purely economic in nature, they also consider social and environmental performance. When reviewing and conducting an examination by the Bank of investment projects, their compliance with environmental standards is taken into account. Also, the Bank, as a financial institution, among the priorities pays attention to lending to environmentally friendly industries and resource-saving projects.
