Moscow Exchange to establish Sustainability Sector

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The Moscow Exchange Listing Rules created a Sustainability Sector for financing projects in the fields of environmental and social sustainability.

The sector consists of three independent segments: green bonds, social bonds and national projects.

The segments for green and social bonds are for Russian and international securities that meet requirements for a bond issue, issuer and investment project as set forth in the Green Bond Principles of the International Capital Market Association (ICMA) or the standards of the Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI). Whether a bond meets these requirements requires confirmation from an external review provider. This corresponds with the concept currently developed for green, social and sustainability bonds by the Russian Ministry of Economic Development, relevant government agencies, the Bank of Russia and business community. The concept provides tax incentives for issuers and financial support from the Bank of Russia for investors (including provisioning benefits).

The segment for national projects includes Russian and international bonds that meet the objectives of national projects such as "Environment", "Demography" and "Public Health", and federal initiatives including "The Adoption of Best Available Technologies", provided that a government agency or government official and inter-agency commissions have also confirmed the bond program’s compliance with one of the projects set out in the Listing Rules.

In April 2019, the Moscow Exchange become Partner Exchange of the United Nations Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) initiative, joining other securities exchanges in a commitment to elevating sustainability practices.