Development of the ESG agenda in Russia at the regional level

A shift in the attitude of the society towards the goals of modern entrepreneurship has led to the emergence and active discussion of the topic of sustainable development not only in science, but in public discourse as well. Growing interest in this topic at all governmental levels and in the society, allows us to note that that it is often unprofitable for the companies themselves, especially large and influential ones, to turn away from this direction, as this involves abandoning already modernized technologies and processes they have heavily invested in. That is why the relevance of ESG-principles, which are the implementation of the concept of sustainable development in business, not only does not decrease, but is of particular importance. In our opinion, the maximum effect of the ESG-agenda can be achieved with the active cooperation of entrepreneurs and regional authorities with substantial administrative resources and knowledge of the strategic development of territories. The aim of the work is to analyze the commitment of the subjects of the Russian Federation to the ESG-agenda and its monitoring in the information field. We reviewed the existing and identified the most authoritative methodologies of ESG-rating of Russian rating agencies. We studied mass media and social media for the representation of the ESG-agenda in the information field of the regions of the Russian Federation. We made a distinction between the concepts of “regional resilience” as the ability of the territory to withstand and adequately respond to shocks and challenges of different origin and “regional development”. Significant differences in the implementation of ESG-principles were revealed, the leading regions, in which ESG-principles are invariably relevant regardless of geopolitical changes, were identified. The study recorded a growing interest of the federal subjects to the problem of ESG-transformation of the economy, but noted a rise in regional imbalances in the implementation of the ESG-agenda as a negative fact. The search for ways to mitigate these imbalances to ensure sustainable development of the country may become the direction of further research.