MSCI, a leading global provider of equity, fixed income and fund indexes, increased its ESG rating for SIBUR to BBB from BB, according to a press release from the petrochemicals giant.
The rating puts SIBUR above domestic and international corporates in governance, anti-corruption activities, business etiquette and environmental protection.
SIBUR sees its sustainable development plan as gaining broader recognition with the increase. Earlier this month, the company strengthened its ESG strategy with more ambitious targets and seeks carbon neutrality in at least one enterprise by 2025. SIBUR has pledged to boost renewable energy use, as well as capturing, utilizing, and storing carbon dioxide and sequestration projects.
The upgrade from MSCI comes on the heels of an announcement by SIBUR that it will provide Nordic paint company Tikkurila with packaging made from 50% recycled plastic in Russia. The new packaging will be made from SIBUR’s specially developed eco-friendly Vivilen compound.
SIBUR introduced Vivilen in 2021 as part of its sustainable development programme, which includes introducing recycled polymers into its production and sales. SIBUR says the compound is the only plastic packaging recycling solution in Russia of consistent quality. It contains up to 50% recycled polypropylene or polyethylene. In 2022, SIBUR plans to begin using recycled PET in the production of food packaging.
“Vivilen is a solution which will help our clients to achieve their sustainable development goals and meets a growing demand to use recycled materials in production on the part of processors and consumers,” said Alexei Sboev, SIBUR’s Director of Marketing. “With Vivilen, we offer our partners a comprehensive answer to the public’s demand for green solutions.”
Corporations and investment funds globally have channeled greater investment into circular economy initiatives as the impact of climate change stretches across borders.
Russia – which has historically been slow to adopt waste solutions, sending more than 90% of its garbage to landfill – has recently ramped up efforts to increase recycling. A government order has resulted in bins for sorting waste appearing in Moscow and other cities. Meanwhile, SIBUR and other companies have launched and strengthened their own recycling projects.
Russia’s largest food retail company X5 has introduced plastic bags that contain 35 percent recycled plastic at its Perekrestok supermarkets and Pyaterochka proximity stores. X5’s online hypermarket Perekrestok Vprok also has a programme to collect and recycle plastic bags used for deliveries to customers. The initiative collected 125,000 bags in the first 10 months of 2020 alone.
The upgrade from MSCI is a nice bit of recognition for SIBUR’s efforts in its ESG strategy. The new rating, as well as the new recycled packaging client, show that the company is delivering.
