January 27, 2022
PAO Severstal has become the first Russian steel company to
join the World Economic Forum’s coalition to promote responsible corporate
reporting on stakeholder capitalism.
The Stakeholder Capitalism Metrics initiative, sponsored by
the International Business Council (IBC) of the World Economic Forum, is part
of wider efforts to develop a set of universal environmental, social and
governance (ESG) measurements.
With hundreds of non-financial reporting metrics already in
existence, the Stakeholder Capitalism Metrics are drawn from well-known,
well-accepted standards and aim to create more consistent standards that are
universal and industry agnostic, to create more consistency in the reporting
process.
The metrics were first published by the World Economic Forum
in 2020 and are aligned with the 2030 United Nations Sustainable Development
agenda for Environmental, Social, and Governance topics. They make it easier
for stakeholders to assess how companies are performing on a comparable
basis.
More than 200 global companies have already adopted the
metrics with many already using them to report. As the first Russian steel
company to join the coalition, Severstal has demonstrated its support for a
globally aligned system for ESG reporting that can provide consistency across
jurisdictions.
Companies in the coalition are committed to:
-
Promoting further convergence of existing ESG standards,
frameworks and principles to support progress towards a globally accepted
solution for non-financial reporting on common ESG metrics; -
Reflecting the core metrics in their reporting to
investors and other stakeholders, for instance in annual reports and
sustainability reports; -
Publicly supporting this work and encouraging their
business partners to do so.
Alexey Mordashov, Chairman of Severstal:
“Capitalism, as a system based on economic freedom and fair
competition, has always been and remains the main driving force of progress and
an effective tool for creating value for society. Meanwhile, like any system,
it must evolve to meet the new demands that the rapidly changing world asks of
business. The next evolutionary stage of the current economic system is “stakeholder capitalism”, based on the principles of sustainable development.
In recent years, Severstal has made significant progress in ESG. Now, we look
forward to joining the discussion launched by the World Economic Forum to find
new ways the business community can work together towards the effective
development of the economy, within this new reality. For the coalition,
this includes determining common metrics that will allow companies to make
decisions that meet the principles of sustainable development, and stakeholders
to evaluate the efforts of companies in this area”.
Ramya Krishnaswamy, Head of ESG and Institutional
Communities, World Economic Forum:
“I am delighted that Severstal has joined our coalition and
committed to the Stakeholder Capitalism Metrics Initiative and to the global
alignment effort underway on Environmental, Social, and Governance reporting.
By joining a large and growing coalition of companies, Severstal will help
amplify the voice of the corporate sector in shaping the ongoing discussions to
create a global solution for Environmental, Social, and Governance reporting.
The global business community’s individual perspectives and collective
contributions are critical to quickly establishing global sustainability
disclosure standards and helping ensure the consistency and comparability of
Environmental, Social, and Governance information.”
The coalition will also support future steps as the process
of developing a global ESG reporting solution evolves and progresses. At COP26,
the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Foundation announced the
establishment of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) which
will sit alongside and work closely with the well-established IFRS
International Accounting Standards Board. The World Economic Forum, drawing on
the effectiveness and adoption of the Stakeholder Capitalism Metrics,
participated in the technical working group towards this announcement and its
efforts will support the development of the ISSB, which will take some time.
The coalition will support these future developments through consultation
mechanisms and providing a sounding board to the International Financial
Reporting Standards (IFRS) Foundation, as well as aiding the advancement of
regional and national processes, such as in the EU and US, where valuable work
is already underway.
More information about the Stakeholder Capitalism Metrics
can be found of the World Economic Forum’s website:
https://www.weforum.org/stakeholdercapitalism/our-metrics
