In 2021 the Russian Association of Public Relations (RASO) turned 30 years old. Apart from the regular meeting of members the business conference on the communicational aspects in ESG took place as well. The aforementioned event touched upon the communicational interaction between various relevant stakeholders – regulators, business entities, public structures through the prism of executing policies in sustainable development. Lots of experts were of opinion that there is a range of obstacles in such kind of communication: from conceptual gaps to an instrumental approach with regard to the assessment of changes, as well as experts discussed different challenges for the communicational community in such a context.

Within the session “Sustainable development of territories, corporate environment” the International Communications and CSR Practice Director at Baikal Communications Group Anastasia Tsvetkova addressed the sensitive topic of interaction between business and society, concerning the implementation of social and environmental initiatives. Using as an example the Baikal natural territory and the Vologda region Anastasia Tsvetkova successfully demonstrated the public reaction to business initiatives and told about various practices for engaging society in the implementation of social programs, incl. activities in partnership with upstanding nonprofit organizations. In addition to that, Anastasia Tsvetkova explained the value of the public non-financial reporting of companies, unveiled difficulties with regard to interpreting important information from media reports and enumerated various communicational channels, which ought to be critically developed by business with the very focus on versatile target audiences.

Besides, the conference touched upon the national dimension of policies in the sphere of sustainable development, social investments and prospects for enhancing the environmental effectiveness amid requirements of international partners, ESG-ratings and functional changes of corporate communications, influenced by the sustainable development agenda.

The key talking points of the conference are available here.

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