Mr. Alexander Dolganov, Ph.D. in Economics, Deputy Chairman of Center-invest Bank’s Management Board, joined the official Russian delegation to the 29th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29) in Baku.

The conference provided an important platform for discussing and agreeing on a new collective goal for climate finance. Experts from all over the world discussed the current situation in the fight against global warming and other important environmental and socioeconomic issues.

Center-invest Bank took part in two sessions of the conference. On November 16, 2024, an expert session "Russia on the path to sustainable development: in search of ways of interaction between foreign and Russian businesses" was held. Mr. Alexander Dolganov, Ph.D. in Economics, Deputy Chairman of Center-invest Bank’s Management Board, acted as a speaker and spoke about the development of ESG banking in Russia using the experience of Center-invest Bank as an example.

On November 18, 2024, as part of the work of the Russian National Pavilion at COP29, the "Russian Business Day" was held with a thematic session "Best practices in decarbonization of Russian companies — search for balanced solutions". The participants discussed the ambitious decarbonization plans of large Russian businesses and the management of climate risks. Alexander Dolganov shared the expertise of Center-invest Bank in the field of assessing and reducing the carbon footprint of mortgage assets.

"Center-invest Bank is a signatory to the Principles of Responsible Business Conduct of the UN Environment Finance Initiative. We take a proactive position, share our experience with colleagues and put forward initiative proposals to achieve progress in the area of climate and socioeconomic indicators," Alexander Dolganov clarified.

The COP29 Presidency put forward 14 initiatives that take into account the links between climate action and the Sustainable Development Goals, including green energy corridors, green energy storage, clean hydrogen, landfill methane reduction, and green digital technologies.

The UN Climate Change Conference, or Climate Summit, has been held annually since 1995 and brings together countries participating in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. This year, more than 65,000 experts took part in the conference.