Social evolution: corporate responsibility of enterprises can now be expressed in numbers

During the First Moscow Investment and Industrial Forum, held at the Pechatniki site of the Technopolis Moscow SEZ, an additional session "The Agenda of Public Capital for Industrial Enterprises" was held. Representatives of municipal structures, businesses and non-profit organizations discussed the concept and ways to integrate the standard of public capital into the capital's business. Izvestia reports on how the creators of the new standard will contribute to the development of the capital's industry.

With a thought about society

Today, Moscow is actively shaping a new industrial policy. High-tech industries are developing, large-scale investments are returning, and the number of production facilities is growing. However, in the modern world, the development of production is based on the progress of society. The new domestic system for assessing non-financial activities of companies, the standard of public business capital, is designed to contribute to the implementation of the national goals of the Russian Federation. The participants of the session talked about ways to encourage the active participation of industrialists in solving social problems.

"Modern competition has changed, and today the winner in the competition is the one who invests in the development of human capital, in the preservation of the environment, and the improvement of the urban environment. All this is social capital, and today the leaders are those who pay enough attention to it," said Irina Kalacheva, member of the Council for Sustainable Development, Corporate Social Responsibility and Volunteerism of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The business social capital Standard will become an important tool for working in this area, contributing to the development of social responsibility of companies, the participants of the session are confident. SOCB was presented by the Agency for Strategic Initiatives and the Moscow government in the spring of 2024. It was designed to recognize and encourage the contribution of business to the development of the urban environment, participation in social, environmental and other socially useful initiatives. According to the developers, when working on the standard, not only the national priorities defined by the President of Russia, but also the specifics of Russian business were fully taken into account.

The complete list for large enterprises includes 95 indicators, which are divided into four main areas: "Population conservation, health promotion and well—being, family support", "Realizing the potential of each person, developing his talents, fostering a patriotic and socially responsible personality", "Environmental well-being and creating a comfortable and safe environment for life" and "Sustainable and dynamic economy, technological leadership and digital transformation." Social support, personal development, environmental issues and technological development are the four pillars on which the development of modern society is based, and they formed the basis for assessing the contribution of business to social development.

With a common measure

"Currently, the assessment according to the standard of public capital is absolutely voluntary for companies. Recently, the Expert RA agency conducted a survey among 192 organizations, and the results showed that 36% of respondents plan to submit reports on the standard as early as 2025, and another 26% plan to do so in subsequent periods. I think this is a very positive result, indicating that businesses are aware of the importance of developing social responsibility in an environment of high competition and a shortage of qualified personnel. To date, we have already received 180 applications from companies from various regions of Russia," said Asiyat Bagatyrova, CEO of NGO "Public Capital".

Experts explain the interest of the capital's industrialists in SOCB, in particular, by their interest in creating a positive image in the eyes of consumers. The lack of formalized approaches to providing non-financial reporting does not increase business confidence, said Irina Filippova, Deputy Director of the Corporate Regulation Department at the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation. Back in May 2024, the Ministry of Economic Development proposed a sustainability reporting standard for businesses, and the development of this idea in the capital will benefit both the city and businesses, and will help other regions assess the benefits of such an approach. "The standard will help companies present their results not only in terms of economic indicators, but also non—financial ones — to clearly show the attitude towards employees, the environment, and society as a whole," Filippova explained.

Given the current trend towards standardizing non-financial reporting, it is safe to say that not only Moscow will be interested in the standard. And this has already been confirmed by practice: many regions are already ready to join the process.
Cooperation agreements on the implementation and development of the standard of public business capital were signed with 16 regions of Russia, it was reported during the discussion.
Sharing experiences is important

The social activity of a business is critically important not only for the company itself, but also for society as a whole, Deputy Director General for Government Relations and Corporate Relations of JSC MAZ said during the sessionMoskvich“ Tatiana Redko.

"If we follow the entire history of industrial development, we will see how close the connection is between the social development of companies and the sustainable development of the country as such," said Tatiana Redko. In her opinion, the lack of a unified state approach to social responsibility in pre-revolutionary Russia was not the least of the causes of social upheaval in Russia at the beginning of the twentieth century. Today, Moskvich pays special attention to the topic of sustainable development: the company was one of the first to be certified and today is an ambassador of SOCB.

According to Maria Boltenkova, an expert on sustainable development of the Technopolis Moscow special economic zone, ensuring the most comfortable and productive working conditions is a significant contribution of the company to sustainable development.

"SEZ "Technopolis Moscow is “developing a comprehensive infrastructure that allows both industrial enterprises and employees to grow, contributing to the sustainable development of the country,“ the expert commented. A number of infrastructural functions are being implemented at the sites of the special economic zone today, from organizing comfortable travel for company employees to their workplace to organizing practical platforms for college students who improve their skills here."

Unlike large businesses, small and medium-sized companies are not yet accustomed to reporting on their work in the field of sustainable development, said Yana Kudashkina, member of the Presidium, Chairman of the Committee on Ecology and Sustainable Development of Opora Russia. Meanwhile, in modern conditions, for all branches of business to work together to achieve national goals, it is especially important that SMEs have the opportunity to learn from the positive experiences of other companies and implement best practices in their daily activities. And in this, the new standard of business social capital can provide significant assistance. "It is important to create a strong community based on the standard, its criteria, and common values, and then the established trust between experts, large, medium, and small companies will be a good help on the way to introducing new practices," the expert says.

Standard assistance

According to Yana Kudashkina, small and medium-sized businesses are no less interested in implementing the public capital standard than large companies. And this is not surprising: companies that have successfully passed the SOCB compliance check will be able to receive a number of financial and other benefits. Now, potentially, we are talking about access to government orders, simplification of obtaining financing through both banks and development institutions, expansion of investment tax deduction, as well as the possibility of priority participation in events of federal and regional significance and training at the Academy of Public Capital.

Thus, according to the expert, the indicators of the public capital standard will become a transparent and understandable basis for government agencies to organize a system of incentives for companies. Relations between the state, business and society will be based on open data, which will help to encourage socially oriented enterprises.

The plans of the developers of the standard are very ambitious. By 2027, more than 10,000 companies in all regions of Russia should be evaluated according to the standard, and the standard itself can be extrapolated to the BRICS countries. This will be the next step for the formation of a mature, socially responsible business culture not only in Russia, but also in the partner countries. As noted during the debate, this is especially important in light of the changing geopolitical situation and Russia's leading position in the modern world.