Sustainable transformation of companies and communities in the face of global challenges of the 21st century

Organizers: Academy of Youth Diplomacy in cooperation with Moscow State University of Foreign Affairs (MGIMO (U) MFA).

Venue: the city of Kazan, IEC KAZAN EXPO, Hall 16.

Moderator: Elizaveta Eliseeva, SDG Coordinator, Academy of Youth Diplomacy.

Speakers:

Khokhlunov Evgeniy Viktorovich, Deputy Director for National Strategic Projects, Yandex Company;

Mohamed Evren Tok, Professor, Innovation and Community Development Expert, Islam and Global Affairs Program Coordinator, Hamad Ben Khalifa University;

Cheick Keita, African Legal and Regulatory Expert, Founder of the Chamber of Initiatives for African Investment Promotion and President of Open Business Africa, nominated as the Ambassador of the African Continent by the Commission on Human Rights;

Ainura Sagyn, software engineer, CEO and founder of the platform Tazar - Become Greener, Kyrgyzstan;

Regina Fasheeva, founder of the Fragency Agency;

Aleksander Plakida, Chairman of the Governing Board, the “National Network of the Global Compact” Association;

Ekaterina Golub, Director of the analytical center “Forum”, leading consultant of the Russian financial sector in the sustainable development agenda;0

Asiyat Bagatyrova, Deputy Head of the Department for Improving the Investment Climate, the Investment and Industrial Policy Division, Moscow.

Description:

Evgeny Khokhlunov, Deputy Director for National Strategic Projects, Yandex, spoke about the company's projects. Yandex has developed a project for monitoring of lake ecosystem “Tochka No.1”, which helps to analyze changes in the ecosystem of Lake Baikal. Apart from it, Yandex, together with scientists and the National Research University of Higher School of Economics, developed a neural network (the El Niño project) which helps tracking the temperature level in the Pacific Ocean and thereby predict impending cataclysms.

Cheick Keita, legal and regulatory expert in Africa noted the role of the private sector in the implementation of the SDG. Businesses need to invest as much as possible in renewable energy, clean transportation, and technologies to reduce their carbon footprint and conserve natural resources.

From 2016 to 2023, 180 countries submitted their voluntary SDG reviews: the national priorities of many countries correlate exactly with the sustainable development goals. Not only countries, but also individual cities make their reports on sustainable development goals.

The speakers noted a new trend, the emergence of new types of reporting: various jurisdictions introduce mandatory reporting on used and recycled packaging.

The volumes of GSSSB bonds are growing, which indicates the importance of the sustainable development agenda. In the regional context, Europe is in first place in terms of green investment, however, the Asia-Pacific region is by far the most active region, which is very actively increasing the volume of iron investments and in the near future can reach the level of Western countries.

On December 14, 2022, a memorandum of intent was signed for cooperation and partnership in the field of achieving the SDG - cooperation aimed at the implementation and promotion of the UN Global Principles in the field of human rights, labor, the environment and countering corruption, as well as promoting the consolidation of business efforts in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals taking into account national priorities and tasks to help improve the socio-economic development of the Russian Federation.