Serbian businesses learn about future challenges and opportunities and how to rise to meet them using ESG.
At an interactive panel discussion on green finance as an opportunity for doing business responsibly in the 21st century, financial industry experts showcased the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) approach and how companies can use it when seeking finance.
The introductory presentation, delivered by Tijana Miković, Senior Manager at KPMG, presented ESG as a way to design business to be both sustainable and responsible. The participants heard how the EU had mandated the use of ESG standards in the financial industry in its sustainable activities taxonomy to tackle climate change and promote green financing.
The panellists were Dušan Ramić, Head of Real Estate and Specialised Finance at OTP Bank, Svetlana Cerović, Head of Finance and Advisory at UniCredit Bank, and Marko Bikicki of the Financial Institutions team at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The panel exchanged opinions about the importance of implementing ESG criteria for the Serbian business community.
The discussion was moderated by Uroš Milosavljević, Director at KPMG.
The latest EU criteria require companies to demonstrate compliance with the bloc’s sustainable activities taxonomy when it comes to mitigating the impact of their business on climate change. In other words, the ESG criteria are a set of standards that banks can consider if planning to invest into environmental and socially responsible projects. Environmental, social, and governance issues are expected to become key factors in Serbian companies’ socially responsible policies, with the panellists noting the banking sector had long been applying ESG criteria.
The panel also spoke about the ongoing energy crisis and its impact on the broader application of ESG standards, where they agreed the requirements could be relaxed in the near future.
